PM Modi to discuss spike in COVID-19 cases with state Chief Ministers on Tuesday

As several states in India witness a rise in Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases, PM Modi will convene a conference with some state CMs on Tuesday. The discussion may not pertain COVID-19 vaccine distribution, state reports. While the list of CMs has not been released, currently Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Haryana, Kerala and Goa are India's new COVID-19 hotspots seeing a rise in case positivity in the post-Diwali period. Currently, India has 91,39,866 cases with active cases at 4,43,486 and death toll at 1,33,738.

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PM-CM meeting tomorrow

Coronavirus LIVE Updates: India's tally rises to 91,39,866; Maharashtra mulls on lockdown

Previous PM-CM conferences

PM Modi has held seven conferences with all CMs amid the Coronavirus pandemic. Previous meetings had all been to discuss the nation's strategy to battle COVID-19 and had resulted in nation-wide lockdowns - the last one with considerable relaxations. While all CMs had attended the first one, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan has sent a representative for the past several meetings. Most CMs had aired their grievances and have supported the Centre's move to extend lockdown and later lift the restrictions. Currently, we are in Unlock-6, with just international travel restricted and educational institutions remaining shut in several states. 

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Curfews in parts of India

While Delhi has ruled out a lockdown, it has increased the fine on not wearing masks to Rs 2000. Gujarat has introduced a 3-day lockdown in Ahmedabad, nightly curfews in  Rajkot, Surat, and Vadodara from November 21. Similarly, Madhya Pradesh has introduced night curfew in Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior, Ratlam and Vidisha districts with effect from November 21. Rajasthan too has decided to impose a night curfew in 8 districts - Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota, Bikaner, Udaipur, Ajmer, Alwar, and Bhilwara and increased the fine amount on not wearing a face mask from Rs 200 to Rs 500. Moreover, Himachal too has put a nightly curfew in Shimla, while Maharashtra will decide on a lockdown in 8-10 days.

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In a heartening development, Oxford University has announced, earlier in the day, that its COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed in collaboration with AstraZeneca is 70.4% effective against the highly-infectious disease. Announcing the interim trial data from its Phase 3 trials, Oxford University said in a statement that its vaccine candidate ChAdOx1 nCoV-2019 has shown more than 70 per cent efficacy after the analysis included 131 COVID-19 cases. India is mulling to approve the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for emergency use, once the UK government clears it.