PM Modi calls Council of Ministers meet on April 30 as Covid-19 rages

In what would be the first such comprehensive consultation with all his ministerial colleagues over the second wave of Covid-19, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet his entire council of ministers on April 30.

The last meeting with all the Union ministers over Covid-19 had taken place on April 6 last year when the country was amid a 21-day lockdown after the first wave of Covid-19 had hit the country. That was also the first Council of Ministers meeting through video conferencing.

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Friday's virtual meeting comes a day before phase 3 of the vaccination drive kicks in enabling all 18 plus people to get the shot. A presentation on this could be made amid growing clamour in states about the shortage of vaccines and the demand for uniform vaccine pricing.

The meeting is the second most important meeting after Modi held consultations with the chief minister of 11 states and Union territories last week, which saw concerns over oxygen supply and scarcity of life-saving medicines.

In BJP's backyard, voices have been heard and an RSS leader even raised questions on what the BJP leaders in Delhi are doing to help the people.

In the meeting, Modi is likely to tell his ministerial colleagues to go the whole log to counter the panic around the pandemic and help the people in their respective regions.

The meeting comes at a time when the government is facing a lot of criticism on social media and otherwise as the number of corona patients soar high and the country's medical infrastructure gasping for breath.

There is a strong buzz that the government could go for massive containment measures, including lockdown if necessary in 150 worst affected districts of the country. In a missive to states on Thursday, the health ministry has asked the states and UTs to identify districts with test positivity of more than 10% as the government plans out intensive containment strategy there.