India much better placed than many other countries on Covid-19 casualties: PM Modi

As the Covid-19 cases breached the five-lakh mark, Prime Minister Narendra Modi advised against “letting your guard down” and the need to be “even more careful now” while the GoM chaired by Health Minister Harsh Vardhan had detailed deliberations on the strategy to counter the pandemic.

Asserting that powered by Corona warriors, India is “firmly fighting Covid-19,” Modi also said that earlier this year, some people had predicted that the impact of the virus in India would be very, very severe but due to the lockdown and many initiatives taken by the Government as well it being a people-driven fight, “India is much better placed than many other nations. India's recovery rate is rising.”

Just two hours before Modi’s remarks at his virtual address in the 90th Birthday Celebrations of Reverend Dr. Joseph Mar Thoma Metropolitan, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi alleged the “government has no plan” to defeat the pandemic as Covid-19 is spreading rapidly into new parts of the country.”

“PM is silent. He has surrendered and is refusing to fight the pandemic,” Rahul Gandhi said.

The Prime Minister, however, noting that any loss of life is unfortunate, due to Covid-19 or otherwise, asserted India's death per million due to the virus is under 12.

“To place this in context, the death rate in Italy is 574 per million. The figures in America, Britain, Spain, and France are also much higher than India. Lakhs of villages, home to 85 crore people, remain almost untouched by coronavirus,” Modi said.

Appreciating the country's people-driven fight that has given good results so far, Modi chose to remind everyone “but can we let our guard down? No. Not at all. In fact, we have to be even more careful now. Wearing masks, social distancing, do gaj ki doori, avoiding crowded places, regularly hand washing hands, these remain important. “

Four days before Unlock 1.0 kicked in with renewed focus on economic development, Modi underlined the need to focus on economic growth and prosperity for 130 crore Indians.

“The wheels of trade and commerce have to move. Agriculture has to flourish. In the last few weeks, the Government of India has addressed both short-term and long-term issues relating to the economy,” the Prime Minister said “from the sea to space, from the farms to the factories, people-friendly and growth-friendly decisions have been taken."