Have to watch every Covid variant closely: PM Modi tells during Covid meet

New Delhi, July 13: Amid fears of a potential COVID-19 third wave, Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with the Chief Ministers of the North-eastern states over the pandemic situation.

"The number of COVID19 cases is rising. We need to take strict action to curb the situation at the micro level. We need to keep an eye on COVID variants, experts are studying them. We need to encourage people to follow COVID19 appropriate behaviour, PM Modi said.

"To combat the possible third wave of COVID19, we need to continue to accelerate the vaccination process," PM Modi added.

"It's a matter of concern, that people are travelling without face masks at hill stations and market places," PM Modi told chief ministers of north-eastern states.

Chief ministers of Assam, Nagaland, Tripura, Sikkim, Manipur, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram were present at the high-level meet, held virtually.

While India witnessed a gradual improvement over COVID-19 numbers, the northeast region has been a cause of concern with the number of cases either rising or not falling in line with the nationwide trend.

The meeting comes days after Union cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba's interaction with the officials of the northeastern states amid concerns over rising cases of coronavirus infection in the region.

The NE States and UTs were advised to strictly monitor the situation at district/ city level and take timely corrective measures, wherever any early sign of surge is noticed.

Among the northeastern states, Arunachal Pradesh is a area of concern that the state has a weekly positivity rate of 16.2% (between June 28 and July 4) and the trend saw an upward rise.

Other states, like Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya and Nagaland, too, have been reporting high positivity rate.

The government has said that around 80% of the Covid-19 cases in India at the moment are being witnessed from 90 districts. As many as 14 of them are from the northeast.