PM Narendra Modi to address the nation at 5 PM as COVID cases decline

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be addressing the nation at 5 PM on Monday amid a sharp decline in the new cases of coronavirus infection across the country. The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) announced this through a tweet in which it said that PM Modi will speak at 5 PM.

“Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi will address the nation at 5 PM today, 7th June,” the PMO tweeted.

PM Modi's latest address to the nation comes at a time when the country is witnessing the lowest coronavirus cases in two months with 1 lakh fresh cases.

The daily COVID-19 death toll has also come down while the number of active cases in the country has decreased to 14 lakh.

PM Modi has addressed the nation a number of times since the pandemic began last year, offering suggestions to people and outlining measures taken by his government to deal with the situation.

PM Modi had on Friday chaired a high-level meeting to review the progress of the mass vaccination drive, during which he was briefed about the current availability of vaccines and the roadmap for ramping it up. The PM was also apprised about the efforts undertaken to help various vaccine manufacturers ramp up the production of vaccines.

The Prime Minister also reviewed the status of vaccination coverage in healthcare workers as well as front-line workers. He also took stock of the vaccination coverage in the above 45 as well as 18-44 age group. After reviewing the status of vaccine wastage in various states, the PM instructed that vaccine wastage numbers are still on the higher side and steps need to be taken to bring them down.

Importantly, on Friday, the Prime Minister praised the Indian scientists for developing a 'Made in India' vaccine against COVID-19 and boosting measures to fight the pandemic within a year of its outbreak.

Addressing a meeting of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Society via video conference, PM Modi, who is also the president of the scientific body, cited India's experience in the previous century to say that the country used to wait for years to lay its hands on innovations achieved abroad, but its scientists are now working shoulder to shoulder with their counterparts outside.

During today's address, PM Modi is expected to highlight his government's vaccination policy, which has been severely criticized by the states and medical experts. The Modi government at the Centre has faced severe criticism as vaccine supply fell short and the country saw a peak in COVID cases in the second wave in March-April. 

The government had to pause exports of COVID vaccines under its "Vaccine Maitri" programme and scrambled to procure more doses to tackle the acute shortage in the country as it widened its vaccination drive to all adults.

However, with a significant improvement in the situation, several states and Union Territories have now begun easing the COVID-19 lockdown curbs which were imposed in mid-April, when the deadly second COVID wave hit the country.