Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting of the council of Ministers on Friday afternoon to discuss the COVID crisis, which has the country in its grip in a deadly second wave.

The Prime Minister urged the ministers to stay in touch with people of their respective regions, help them and keep getting their feedback.

He stressed the need to ensure that issues at the local level are promptly identified and addressed, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said in a briefing after the review meet concluded.

It noted that the pandemic has led to a “once-in-a-century” crisis and thrown a big challenge to the world, the statement said.

“The council was briefed about the steps being taken to ramp up the number of hospital beds, oxygen facilities and resolve issues related to the availability of oxygen and essential medicines,” it added.

This was the first such meeting held after the second wave of the pandemic hit India. The PM chaired meetings with pharma companies, vaccine makers, oxygen manufacturers and state chief ministers during the past few weeks to review how the COVID situation was being tackled.

"The Council of Ministers met today to discuss the situation arising out of the second wave of COVID in the country. PM Narendra Modi said that all arms of the government are working unitedly and rapidly to deal with the situation," the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said in a statement.

"Health Ministry is closely coordinating with States regarding the availability and supply of medical oxygen- 8,593 MT has been allocated to 23 States," the Ministry of Health said. "States are also advised to undertake oxygen consumption audit in all hospitals including private hospitals," it added.

PTI quoted sources saying that pandemic and the response of the government was discussed in the virtual meet. The ongoing vaccination drive, which will now open for those in the 18-45 age group from May 1, was also discussed during the meet.

Prime Minister Modi has held several rounds of meetings with chief ministers and top government officials to deliberate on the COVID-19 situation. He has also been holding meetings with pharma industry leaders, oxygen suppliers, heads of the three-armed forces and other dignitaries to discuss how to tackle the pandemic.

Modi, in his address to the nation on April 20 has maintained that the focus should be on restrictions and curfews in containment zones. A prolonged national lockdown imposed in March 2020 had adversely impacted the country’s economy and businesses and the government has so far been avoiding a repeat of that situation.

NITI Aayog member VK Paul gave a presentation on COVID-19 management.

The shortage of oxygen supply and vaccines has been a major challenge in the current spell of COVID.

Health minister Harsh Vardhan told reporters on Thursday that there was no need for people to panic and rush to hospitals. He said there was adequate supply of oxygen in the country earlier as well and now it had been increased further. Requirement of oxygen among COVID patients has been higher in the second wave of the pandemic compared to the first, according to health ministry data.

The country has been seeing a huge spike in daily fatalities too with 3,645 more people succumbing to the disease in the last 24 hours. The cumulative death toll in India now stands at 2,04,832.

Image Source: ANI