Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba on Wednesday held a videoconference with the Chief Secretaries of all the States a day after the Tablighi Markaz (centre) at Nizamuddin was evacuated and the area put under an intense lockdown.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to hold a video call with all the Chief Ministers tomorrow.
A government statement said Mr. Gauba “sensitised” the Chief Secretaries that contact tracing of the Tabligh attendees (spread over multiple States) be undertaken on a war footing and quarantine procedures enforced.
While appreciating that on the whole the lockdown was being implemented well, he said all the benefits announced by the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman last week under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana be disbursed within the week.
Also read: Officials of Tablighi Jamaat charged with defying restrictions
Supply chain worries have been top of the mind with the government allowing transport of all goods across various State borders last week. But Mr. Gauba again told the Chief Secretaries that this needed to be smoothened further and that manufacture and supply of goods, especially essential ones, be maintained across the States.
Also read: Tablighi Jamaat and COVID-19: The story so far
India has entered the second week of a three-week lockdown over the COVID19 pandemic. On Tuesday, the country saw its largest spike in COVID-19 positive cases, more than 200 over 24 hours, as the Tablighi Markaz (centre) case came to light.
