India: Prime Minister Modi calls for focused fight against COVID-19

Dubai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday held a fresh round of talks with chief ministers during which he said that the country had a reasonably clear indication of the spread of COVID-19, including the worst affected areas. He said the fight against COVID-19 had to be more focused now and that economic activities would gain momentum in the coming days.

This was the fifth video conference that Modi had with the chief ministers.

The total number of coronavirus cases in India now stand at 67,152.

The cases rose by 4,213 on Monday and 1,559 more people have recovered from the disease.

The Prime Minister said that the road ahead should be focused on reducing the spread of coronavirus and ensuring that precautions are taken, ANI reported.

"Going forward, the road ahead should be focused on reducing the spread and ensuring that all precautions are taken by people including social distancing norms. Follow-up is of paramount importance and we must do so to the hilt," he said.

Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman were also present in the meeting.

The Prime Minister said, "We have to ensure that rural India remains free from this crisis".

The extended lockdown enforced to contain the spread of coronavirus is scheduled to end on May 17.

West Bengal CM seeks special economic package

At the meeting, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee asked for special economic package from the Centre, IANS reported quoting sources at the state Secretariat.

Banerjee sought central assistance to bring back migrant labourers stranded in various parts of the country. She also appealed to the Prime Minister and all other political parties not to engage in any sort of politics during coronavirus crisis, agencies reported.

Chhattisgarh CM demands Rs300 billion for relief, welfare schemes

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel sought financial assistance of Rs 300 billion (Dh14.5 billion) for relief and welfare schemes.

He also said that state should be responsible for determining red, green, and orange zones. Baghel suggested that regular train, air services and inter-state bus transport should be started in consultation with the state governments.

Tamil Nadu CM seeks credit restructuring package

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami on Monday requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to resume regular air services and train services to Chennai till May 31. He also sought a credit restructuring package as well as refinancing support for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) in the state.

Telangana CM urges PM not to restart train services

Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao on Monday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to allow resumption of train services to contain the spread of coronavirus.

He said the movement of people on trains would make the task of monitoring the COVID-19 situation difficult and this may lead to spread of virus from one place to the other.

- with inputs from agencies