Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during a video conference with chief ministers of 10 key states, discussed the COVID-19 situation and further course of action as part of unlocking the country amid coronavirus outbreak. These 10 states have a high population density and the PM will discuss the strategy being adopted by them to bring down the COVID-19 numbers.
Those present at the virtual meeting were Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Punjab CM Amarinder Singh, Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani, Tamil Nadu CM EK Palaniswami, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, and Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao.
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also attended the meeting.
The meeting comes a day after PM Modi held talks with CMs of six states, including Assam, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala, which have been badly affected by the floods and landslides.
Today's meeting between the PM and the CMs is crucial since the government may allow more activities to reopen in the days to come. The government on July 30 issued guidelines for the next stage of unlocking, under which gyms and yoga centres were allowed to open but schools, colleges, metro rail service, cinema halls and bars will be kept shut till August 31. On August 3, the government issued new guidelines on preventive measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 in gymnasiums and yoga centres from August 5.
Meanwhile, India has recorded a single-day spike of 53,601 cases and 871 deaths in the last 24 hours. The COVID-19 tally has now risen to 22,68,676, including 6,39,929 active cases, 15,83,490 recoveries and 45,257 deaths, says the latest Ministry of Health data. In total, India has around 28.21 per cent active cases, 69.80 per cent cured and 1.99 per cent deaths, the government data suggests.
Also read: Coronavirus update: India records 53,601 new cases in 24 hours, death toll reaches 45,257