New Delhi: As India battles the second wave of Coronavirus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting with the Union Council of Ministers on Friday where they discussed the management of the pandemic and availability of essential supplies. This was the first meeting of the council of ministers since the beginning of the second Covid wave in the country.


In the meeting, PM Narendra Modi assured that all arms of the government are working unitedly and rapidly to deal with the situation, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting informed.


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At the virtual meeting, NITI Aayog member VK Paul addressed the subject of Covid-19 management through a presentation. Followed by a briefing by Union ministers Piyush Goyal and Mansukh Mandaviya who spoke to their cabinet colleagues about the availability of oxygen and antiviral drugs.


PM Modi also urged the Ministers to stay in touch with people of their respective regions and help them. He asked them to keep registering their feedback.


The Prime Minister also stressed the need to ensure that issues at the local level are promptly identified and addressed, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting informed.


Tweeting about the same, PM Modi wrote: "Reviewed the Covid-19 situation during the Council of Ministers meeting. Discussed the various steps being undertaken including coordination with the states, augmenting medical capacities and boosting oxygen availability".



The Council of Ministers in the meeting termed the present pandemic situation as a "once in a century crisis" which has thrown a major challenge for the world.


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Measures Undertaken & Challenge Ahead 


The members reviewed all the efforts made by the Central and State Governments in the last 14 months.


"The efforts by the Central Government in coordination with the states towards building up infrastructure in the form of ramping up hospital beds, PSA oxygen facilities etc, resolving issues in production, storage and transport of Oxygen, tackling matters relating to the availability of essential medicines were briefed, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting informed.


The measures being taken to further ramp up their supply and availability were also pointed out, the official statement added.


Support measures undertaken to help the vulnerable population were highlighted. The assistance was provided in form of food grains and financial support to Jan Dhan account holders.


The council of Ministers also emphasised the importance of Covid appropriate behaviour – wearing a mask, keeping physical distance of 6 feet and washing hands frequently.


The participation of society has been stressed as a key aspect to accomplish the enormous challenge ahead. The Union Council of Ministers expressed confidence that the country will rise to the same and defeat the pandemic.


India's Grim Covid Record 


Setting yet another grim record, India registered over 3.86 lakh new Covid cases in a single day. The death tally continues to surge and the country recorded 3498 Covid fatalities. India reported 3,86,452 new Covid-19 cases, 3498 deaths and 2,97,540 discharges in the last 24 hours, as per Union Health Ministry.


Delhi recorded as many as 24,235 fresh coronavirus cases on Thursday. With this, the tally of Covid-19 cases in the national capital has reached 11,222,86, while the death toll mounted to 15,772.


Meanwhile, facing the worst Covid situation recently, Maharashtra on Thursday reported 66,159 fresh cases and 771 fatalities, taking the tally of infections to 45,39,553 and the death toll to 67,985. 68,537 patients were discharged from hospitals, taking the number of recoveries to 37,99,266.