PM Modi to interact with Chief Ministers of six states on COVID-19 situation today

New Delhi, July 16: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Friday interact with the chief ministers of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha, Maharashtra and Kerala to discuss the COVID-19 situation in these states.

It can be seen that these are among the states where the COVID-19 infection numbers have seen an increase in several districts or have not in general seen a dip as they have in most other states.

On Tuesday, PM Modi interacted with the chief ministers of eight North-Eastern states, another region of concern, through video conferencing, and said the vaccination drive needs to be continuously ramped up to deal with the pandemic.

He also said that it is a matter of concern that big crowds are thronging hill stations and market areas without masks and social distancing.

These six states have been reporting a surge in daily COVID-19 cases. Tamil Nadu recorded 2,405 positive cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, bringing the state tally to 25,28,806. On Wednesday, Kerala reported that its active caseload rose by 4,084 new cases of COVID-19.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra did away with the mandate for a negative RT-PCR report for domestic and international passengers on Thursday. However, they will still be required to follow all COVID protocols.

Kerala and Maharashtra have been hotspots of the COVID-19 cases for a long now, accounting for more than 50 per cent of cases in the country. Five of these six states - Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, accounted for 73.4 per cent of total new cases recorded in July.