Ahead of PM’s meet, Oppn seeks roadmap

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 26

As PM Narendra Modi prepares to interact with Chief Ministers on Monday on the lockdown and the way forward to fight Covid-19, the Opposition today said the Centre should come up with a clear and well-delineated roadmap to move collectively ahead. Meanwhile, PM Modi exhorted countrymen to shun complacency.

“Is there a comprehensive strategy which the Union Government is going to present to the CMs? The virus, in the absence of a vaccine, is here to stay and, therefore, we have to prepare ourselves. We have to prepare our people to live with the virus…”, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said.

Separately, in a letter to the PM, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury raised several issues, including the plight of migrant workers, return of Indians stuck overseas, unemployment, cooperative federalism, finances, wasteful expenditure, shortage of PPE and communal polarisation.

The irresponsibility of the Tablighi Jamaat, he said, could not be an excuse for targeting the entire Muslim community and deepening social divisions. “It is up to the political leadership to put a stop to this forthwith. Otherwise it would be the greatest disservice to the fight against the pandemic and the people of the country”. The Congress sought to know why during the past 36 days, the government did not formulate a national plan on exit strategy, as envisaged under the National Disaster Management Act. “When the PM interacts with the Chief Ministers, the party does not want to hear homilies but a calibrated, clear, pointed plan for the next 90 days and what is that the Government of India, states and districts are expected to do to deal with Covid-19,” the Congress MP said. Advocating aggressive testing, also stressed by former PM Manmohan Singh Rahul Gandhi, he said this was a must.

More virulent L-strain in Gujarat?

Ahmedabad: The high Covid-19 mortality rate in Gujarat could be due to the dominance of the L-type strain of coronavirus, which was more prevalent in Wuhan, experts said. The dominance of the more virulent L-type strain as compared to the S-type could be behind the high mortality rate in the state, which has reported 133 deaths so far. PTI

Wuhan cases drop to zero

Beijing: The number of hospitalised Covid-19 patients in China’s Wuhan, where the virus first emerged, on Sunday dropped to zero for the first time. The city opened up on April 8 after a 76-day lockdown. The result has been achieved with the “hard efforts of medical workers”, said a spokesperson for China’s National Health Commission. PTI