New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a meeting, through video conference, with state Chief Ministers on Monday at 3 pm to discuss the prevailing COVID-19 situation in the country.This will be PM Modi's fifth meeting via video-conference amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.

 

'PM Narendra Modi to hold the 5th meeting via video-conference with state Chief Ministers tomorrow afternoon at 3 PM,' PMO India tweeted.

 

The Prime Minister had earlier interacted with Chief Ministers four times over the COVID-19 situation via video conferencing.

 

This meeting is expected to discuss post-May 17 scenarios, especially when the number of Covid-19 positive cases has touched 63000. Active cases are now growing at 5.2 per cent and doubling every 13 days. However, one crucial positive development is that the average rate of recovery has reached 30 per cent.

 

Still, the concern is that rate of new cases rising and that too at a worrying rate in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi and Tamil Nadu. Some states such as Haryana is witnessing the second wave. Considering all these, the focus of discussion likely to be making a balance between more opening up of the economy and arrest the pace of growth in affected cases.

 

Earlier in the day, Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba chaired a meeting with Chief Secretaries and Health Secretaries of all states and Union Territories (UTs) to review their status of COVID-19 management.

 

The Chief Secretaries informed the Cabinet Secretary about the COVID-19 situation in their respective states, they also said that the economic activities also needed to be stepped up in a calibrated manner.

 

The lockdown, enforced on March 25, was originally supposed to end on April 14. It was then extended to May 3, and then again to May 17.

 

Meanwhile, a spike of 3,277 COVID-19 cases and 127 deaths was seen in the last 24 hours. Total cases in the country are now at 62,939, including 41472 active cases, 19358 cured/discharged/migrated and 2109 deaths, said the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare