Stating that almost 80 per cent of the active cases in the country are from ten states, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that entire country will emerge victorious in the battle against COVID-19 if the virus was defeated in these ten states,
Modi said this while interacting with Chief Ministers and representatives of states through video conferencing to discuss the current situation and plan ahead for tackling the COVID-19 pandemic. Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Punjab, Bihar, Gujarat, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh are the states that were mentioned by the Prime Minister
Increasing testing, bringing down fatality rate
The Prime Minister mentioned that the number of daily tests have reached almost seven lakh and was increasing continuously, which has helped in early identification and containment. “The average fatality rate in the country is amongst the lowest in the World and is continuously going down. The percentage of active cases is reducing, while the recovery rate is increasing,” he said. Modi said that these steps have boosted the confidence of people, and said that the target of bringing down the fatality rate below 1 per cent can be achieved soon.
Modi underlined that there was an urgent need to ramp up testing in Bihar, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Telangana. Containment, contact tracing and surveillance are the most effective weapons in this battle, he said and added that people have become aware of this and are ably assisting these efforts. This has helped in the success of home quarantine, he added.
“As per experts, if we are able to identify the cases in the initial 72 hours, then the spread of the virus can be slowed down,” he said and emphasised on the need to trace and test all those who had come in contact with an infected person within 72 hours. “This should be followed like a mantra, with the same earnestness as washing hands, maintaining do gaz doori, wearing masks etc,” he said.
Strategy in Delhi and nearby states
Prime Minister recounted the experience of the Home Ministry in preparing a roadmap for tackling the pandemic together with Delhi and nearby states. He said that the main pillars of this strategy were segregation of containment zones and focus on screening, especially of those in high risk category. The results of these steps are there for all to see, he said, adding that steps like better management in hospitals and increasing ICU beds also proved very helpful.
