PM Narendra Modi cancels West Bengal visit, to chair COVID-19 review meetings on April 23

PM Modi said that he will chair high-level meetings on Friday due to which he will be unable to visit poll-bound West Bengal.

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New Delhi: In view of the prevailing COVID-19 crisis in the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday (April 22) cancelled his visit to poll-bound West Bengal and said that he will chair high-level meetings to review the situation.

Informing through a tweet, the PM said that he will chair high-level meetings on Friday due to which he will be unable to visit Bengal.

"Tomorrow, will be chairing high-level meetings to review the prevailing COVID-19 situation. Due to that, I would not be going to West Bengal," PM Modi wrote in a tweet.

Tomorrow, will be chairing high-level meetings to review the prevailing COVID-19 situation. Due to that, I would not be going to West Bengal. — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 22, 2021

As per the PM’s schedule, at 9 AM he will hold an internal meeting to review the COVID-19 situation. After the meet, at 10 AM, Modi will interact with the Chief Ministers of high burden states and discuss the ongoing crisis. The PM is also slated to hold a meeting with leading oxygen manufacturers in the country via video conferencing at 12.30 pm. 

Meanwhile, the senior BJP leader will address the people of West Bengal through a virtual medium at 5 pm on Friday. He was earlier scheduled to address four rallies across four districts and 56 assembly constituencies in the state. 

Creating a world record of the highest single-day surge, India recorded 3,14,835 fresh coronavirus infections, pushing the cumulative tally to 1,59,30,965 on Thursday, as per data by the Health Ministry.

The country's total COVID-19 caseload climbed to over 1.59 crore, of which, 22.91 lakh (22,91,428) were active cases. India also witnessed 1,84,657 deaths due to the deadly infection. 

(With inputs from agencies)