With coronavirus surge continuing unabated and 2,59,170 fresh cases being reported in the last 24 hours, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation on Tuesday evening.
“The country is today fighting a very big battle against Covid-19. The situation had improved for a while, but the second covid-19 wave has come like a storm,” PM Modi said.
PM Modi began his address by empathizing with people who have lost their loved ones due to the second wave of the pandemic.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS OF PM’S SPEECH
Our challenges are big…but we have to overcome them.
I want to thank all the doctors, para meds, sanitation workers, police and healthcare workers. You have given your lives to fight COVID-19. You have sacrificed your family time for us and our safety.
Oxygen is in high demand and the central government, along with various state governments, are working to supply enough oxygen.
Work is on to increase the number of beds in hospitals.
We are lucky to have a strong pharmaceutical sector that is making medicines quickly.
India has been able to vaccinate over 12 crore citizens.
India with two ‘Made In India’ vaccines started the world’s largest vaccination program.
We should not lose hope or be afraid…we have to take the right call at the right time…this is how we will win this battle.
Last year we did not have enough information on Covid-19, but now we have made fast progress. We now have the expertise.
We have enough PPE kits now and testing processes are now smoother.
We have fought against Covid-19 effectively due to the efforts of the citizens.
We can defeat Covid-19 again as a nation.
I request the younger population to make sure that family members do not leave home unnecessarily.
As a nation, we need to make sure we avoid a complete lockdown.
We should focus on micro containment zones.
I want to appeal to states to look at lockdown only as a last resort.
I request citizens to refrain from spreading rumours.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Stay at home message loud and clear
- Oxygen production being ramped up
- Efforts being made to ease oxygen supply
- Government will protect livelihoods of people. He touched upon the migrant issue and asked them to remain in their present locations.
- Stress of vaccinating all citizens above age of 18 years
- Micro-containment zones key focus
- Important to follow all COVID-19 protocols
- Lockdown should be last resort
SERIES OF MEETINGS PRECEDING THE ADDRESS
Amid a spike of COVID-19 cases and massive shortage of oxygen and hospital beds coming to light from all across the country, PM Modi has been holding a series of meetings with stakeholders concerned.
On Monday, during his interaction with doctors, PM Modi said vaccines were the biggest weapon in the fight against the coronavirus. Shortly after the interaction, Centre opened the vaccination drive for all adults from May 1.
PM Modi also interacted with vaccine manufacturers this evening and asked them to continuously scale up their production capacity to vaccinate all Indians above the age of 18 years.