Pandemic should not be a matter of politics, PM Narendra Modi tells floor leaders on COVID-19

PM Modi also told the floor leaders about the efforts being made to ensure one oxygen plant in every district across India.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday (July 20, 2021) interacted with floor leaders of all parties of both houses of the Parliament and told them that the 'pandemic should not be a matter of politics'. 

While apprising the floor leaders on the Public Health Response to COVID-19, PM Modi also said that mankind hasn't seen such a pandemic in the last 100 years.

"The pandemic should not be a matter of politics and is a matter of concern for the entire humanity," the Prime Minister expressed. 

PM Modi also spoke about the efforts being made to ensure one oxygen plant in every district across India and informed leaders about the rising speed of the country's vaccination program. 

He told them that the first 10 crore doses took around 85 days while the last 10 crore doses have taken just 24 days. 

The Prime Minister also informed the leaders that the daily closing stocks show an average of more than 1.5 crore coronavirus vaccines at the end of the day throughout the country.

He stressed the need to properly plan the vaccination drives at the district level based on the advance availability indicated by the Central Government to ensure no inconvenience to the people. 

PM Modi said that mutations make COVID-19 'very unpredictable' and that everyone needs to stay together and fight this disease. During the meet, he also talked about Cowin and Aarogya Setu.

According to a press statement by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, a detailed presentation was given by Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan where he informed that as of date, only eight states have more than 10,000 COVID-19 cases with the majority of the caseload in Maharashtra and Kerala. Bhusan also said that only five states have a positivity rate of more than 10%.

During the meeting, it was also informed that throughout the pandemic, Prime Minister Modi held 20 meetings with CMs of states while the Union Health Minister held 29 meetings with states. The Union Cabinet Secretary briefed the State Chief Secretaries 34 times while 166 Central Teams were deployed to aid 33 States and UTs in COVID-19 management.