PM Modi asks CMs to ensure 100% use of masks

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged the state chief minsters to ensure 100% usage of masks or face covers amid a spurt in coronavirus cases in the country.

Participating in a meeting with chief ministers of 21 states and Union Territories via video conference on Tuesday afternoon, Prime Minister Modi said, “Don’t imagine stepping out without mask.”

Urging the state chief ministers to adopt Punjab’s COVID-19 combat model of micro-containment and house-to-house surveillance system, Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh also suggested to the Prime Minister to set up a group, which should include a few chief ministers, to discuss and formulate a coordinated Centre-State response to the devastating impact of Covid on the economy and governments across the country.

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“When India’s fight against coronavirus will be remembered in the future for how we worked together and served as an example of cooperative federalism,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the chief ministers during the meeting.

Chief ministers of 21 states and representatives from Union Territories namely Punjab, Assam, Kerala, Uttrakhand, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Tripura, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Goa, Manipur, Nagaland, Ladakh, Puducherry, Arunachal, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadar Nagar Haveli and Daman Diu, Sikkim and Lakshadweep took part in the meeting.

During his opening remarks, the Prime Minister said that timely decisions taken by the government has helped in containing the spread of coronavirus in the country.

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“In last few weeks, thousands of Indians returned to India from abroad and hundreds of migrant workers reached their home towns. Almost all modes of transport have resumed operations but still the impact of COVID19 in India has not been as much as is being seen in other parts of world. The recovery rate from COVID-19 infection has gone above 50 per cent in the country,” he said.

This is the sixth meeting of the Prime Minister with the chief ministers since the announcement of nationwide lockdown in March.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister will interact with another 15 states and Union Territories – Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Jammu And Kashmir, Telangana and Odisha.