The Prime Minister called for making full use of the experience gathered over the last one-and-a-half years

While interacting with Chief Ministers of North-Eastern states Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday strongly cautioned against crowding at hill stations without observing proper precautions.

Expressing his concern over the growing number of positive cases in some districts in Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh, the Prime Minister stressed on the need to catch these signals and take strict actions at the micro level.

The Prime Minister advised strict monitoring of the mutation and keeping track of all variants.

He said experts are studying the mutations and their impact. In such a scenario, prevention and treatment are critical, he said, while emphasizing Covid appropriate behaviour.

Modi stressed upon the utility of physical distancing, mask and vaccine.

Similarly, the strategy of testing tracking and treatment is a proven strategy, he added.

Rejecting the argument that people want to enjoy before the arrival of the third wave, PM Modi said that this needs to be understood that the third wave will not come on its own.

The main question in our mind should be how to prevent the third wave. Experts are repeatedly warning against carelessness and crowding as they can lead to massive surge in cases. He strongly advocated preventing avoidable crowding.

The Prime Minister said that in the ‘vaccine for all-free for all’ campaign of the central government, the Northeast too has the same importance and we need to keep accelerating the vaccination process.

To deal with the myths pertaining to vaccination and mobilising people, the Prime Minister asked to enlist the help of social, educational institutes, celebrities and also the organizations of religious faith. He asked to accelerate the vaccination drive in the areas where spread of the virus is expected.

Referring to the recent Cabinet approval of Rs. 23,000 crore package for improving the infrastructure for testing and treatment, the Prime Minister said that the package will help in strengthening the health infrastructure of the Northeast states.

This package will expedite testing, diagnostics, genome sequencing in the Northeast. The Prime Minister stressed the need for a quickly increasing number of beds, oxygen facilities and paediatric care infrastructure in the Northeast.

Prime Minister Modi informed that hundreds of oxygen plants are being established in the country through PM-CARES and Northeast too has about 150 plants. The Prime Minister requested the Chief Ministers to complete the process of establishing these plants quickly.

The Prime Minister underlined the need to establish a temporary hospital due to the geographical situation of the northeast.

The Chief Ministers thanked the Prime Minister for timely action in handling the Covid pandemic.

They appreciated his special care and concern for the North-East States. Apart from the Chief Ministers, Union Ministers for Home, Defence, Health, DONER and other Ministers were present during the interaction.

The interaction session was joined by the Chief Ministers of Nagaland, Tripura, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Assam.

In the meanwhile, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said it has deputed central teams in 11 states so that they can help the state governments in battling COVID-19.

Besides North-East states, the teams have been sent to Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Kerala & Odisha, as they were reflecting a growth trajectory