Need to stop emerging 2nd peak of Covid: PM

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said it was critical to stop what he termed the "emerging second peak" of Covid with decisive steps, including micro-containment zones, increased testing and enforcement of restrictions like masks.

Modi called for "quick and decisive" steps to check the spike and stressed the need to seriously follow the "test, track and treat" approach.

In a virtual interaction with state chief ministers over the pandemic situation and the ongoing vaccination drive, Modi also asserted that vaccine is an effective weapon against the diseases and asked states to establish more vaccination centres, be it government-run or private.

In his first interaction with chief ministers after the vaccination drive started in January, he said states like Maharashtra and Punjab have been seeing a rise in the COVID cases while the positivity rate has shot up in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

India recorded its highest daily tally of Coronavirus cases this year with 28,903 new infections, taking the total COVID-19 count to 1,14,38,734, according to the Union Health ministry data updated on Wednesday.

The death toll increased to 1,59,044 with 188 new fatalities, the highest in around two months, the data updated at 8 am showed. As many as 30,254 new infections were recorded in a span of 24 hours on December 13.

Sixty per cent of the country's active cases and 45.4 per cent of the fresh deaths are concentrated in Maharashtra, the Health ministry said on Wednesday. The state, which found itself as a Covid hot spot since the outbreak started in the country last year, is back at the top slot again.

Seventy districts in the country have seen an increase in the positivity rate by over 150 per cent in the last few weeks, he said, underlining his concern.

"If we do not stop it here, then a condition for a nationwide outbreak may emerge," he said, and called for quick and decisive steps to stop it.

Urging chief ministers to ramp up testing and put in place other measures, he noted that many tier 2 and 3 cities, which were earlier seen as "safe zones" due to the low spread of the infection, were now witnessing a rise in positive cases.

One of the reasons behind India's 'successful' fight against the pandemic is that villages largely remained unaffected by the diseases, and if it now spreads across smaller towns then the rural areas too will be affected, he said.

The existing system in the rural areas may fall short if the infection spreads there, he said, asking states to take necessary measures.

Modi urged states to scale up RT-PCR tests, which he said should account for more than 70 per cent of overall testing, increase vaccination centres while targeting zero wastage of vaccines, follow diligently the practice of "test, track and treat" and create micro-containment zones to curb the infection's spread.

He also asked states to pay special attention to the referral system and ambulance network in small cities as the whole country has opened up for travel.

States should develop a mechanism to share information to follow the SOP for surveillance of the contacts of travellers, especially coming from abroad, he said.

The confidence brought by India's fight against the pandemic so far should not lead to overconfidence and its success should not cause carelessness, he said, and asked chief ministers to take necessary measures, including enforcement of preventive measures like wearing masks and social distancing.

Many of the most Covid-affected countries have suffered from many waves, he said, and noted that some states in India have also been seeing a sudden rise in the cases after a phase of decline.

People should not be put on panic-mode but there is need to ensure that they get rid of this problem as well, he said.

"Test, track and treat" should be taken as seriously now as it has been for over a year since the outbreak, he added.

The Prime Minister reiterated that RT PCR tests should make up for over 70 per cent of overall Coronavirus testing while noting that states like Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala and Odisha have been mostly dependent on antigen tests.

There is also a need to take the issue of wastage of vaccines doses very seriously, Modi said, while noting that it is as high as 10 per cent in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh while the situation is no better in Uttar Pradesh.

During the interaction, Union Home minister Amit Shah listed out the districts which require special focus from states in order to contain the spread of the virus, an official release said, adding that the Union Health Secretary gave a presentation on the current pandemic situation in the country and the vaccination strategy.

Some chief ministers, including those from West Bengal and Chhattisgarh, did not attend the meeting, official sources said.