Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday advised the states to go in for a lockdown only as a last resort in the fight against Covid-19 as the country now has a strong healthcare infrastructure, sufficient medicines, and the world’s fastest inoculation drive in progress to tackle the second wave of the deadly pandemic.

Addressing the nation in an hour of crisis as Covid cases have been soaring in recent days, PM Modi gave the clarion call to states to “save the country from lockdowns.”

He said the emphasis should be on micro containment zones to control the spread of infections so that economic activity is not hit over a wider area.  

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The Prime Minister assured the country that enough oxygen would be made available to all the hospitals and the government was moving on a war footing on the issue.

PM Modi said the situation now is quite different from when the pandemic first hit the country last year.  The pharma sector has risen to the occasion in making the cheapest vaccines available to the country which can be handled by the existing cold chain infrastructure and the production of medicines has been ramped up.

The PM said the country had launched the biggest inoculation drive in the world and was the quickest to reach the 10 crore mark at first which has now touched the 12 crore mark in record time.

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He said the country was in a much stronger position even as the disease had surged because the frontline healthcare staff have been vaccinated against Co vid-19 and a significant percentage of the vulnerable population comprising the elderly had also been administered the vaccine.

However, at the same time he advised the nation to observe the Covid-19 protocol strictly to fight the spread of the disease. Reiterating his “dawai bhi aur kadai bhi” mantra, PM Modi said it is best if everyone observes self-discipline so that there is no need for the authorities to step in to enforce it.

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