Need to increase Covid-19 testing in 10 most-affected states, PM Modi tells CMs

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that there is a need to increase coronavirus testing in states where the testing rate is low and the positivity rate is high.

Speaking at the meeting with chief ministers, held through video conferencing, the Prime Minister said if we defeat coronavirus in the 10 states then the country will also win.

"In states where the testing rate is low and the positivity rate is high, there is a need to increase testing there in particular, Bihar, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Telangana. A view has emerged that testing should be increased in these states," he said.

"Today 80 per cent of active cases are in these ten states. Hence, the role of all these states is very big in the fight against coronavirus. The number of active cases is exceeded to 6 lakhs. Most of these cases are in these ten states," he said.

"That's why the need was felt for these states to sit together, review and discuss the issue. From this discussion, we also got to learn a lot from each other's experiences. If we defeat coronavirus in these 10 states then the country will also win," he said.

The Prime Minister said that the number of testing has reached 7 lakhs per day and is also increasing continuously.

He said that if we try more in a focused way then we can achieve the target to bring down Case Fatality Rate (CFR) to less than 1 per cent.

"The average fatality rate is much lower than in rest of the world. It is a matter of satisfaction. It is constantly decreasing. Percentage of active cases has decreased and the recovery rate has increased. So, this means that our efforts are proving effective," the Prime Minister said.

"The most important thing is that it has also increased trust among people. Their confidence has increased and their fear of the infection has also decreased. If we try in a more focused way then we can achieve the target to bring down CFR to less than 1 per cent," he said.

He said that there was a phase when COVID-19 became a huge problem in some districts of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi.

"We have seen that in some districts of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi, there was a phase when COVID-19 became a huge problem. We held a review meeting and a committee was formed under the chairmanship of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and to a great extent, we achieved desired results," he said.

The Prime Minister asserted that the most effective weapon against coronavirus is containment, contact tracing, and surveillance.

"Now the public is also understanding and cooperating. This is a good result of our awareness efforts. This is why the system of home quarantine is being implemented in such a good way today. Experts are now saying that if we identify cases within 72 hours of onset, then this infection slows down to a great extent," he said.

"I get ground situation from you and also get to know that we are heading in the right direction. I am satisfied that every state is fighting this pandemic at its own level. Whether it is the Centre or state government, we are able to work as a team. We are getting good results due to this team spirit," he said.

The Prime Minister said that efforts like better management in hospitals and increase the number of ICU beds have helped a lot.

Among those present at the meeting were, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, Tamil Nadu CM EK Palaniswami, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Punjab CM Amarinder Singh, Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao, Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.

As many as 53,601 new coronavirus cases and 871 deaths were reported in India in the last 24 hours, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The COVID-19 tally has risen to 22,68,676 including 6,39,929 active cases, 15,83,490 cured/discharged/migrated and 45,257 deaths.