Rahul Gandhi attacks Modi govt over COVID-19 handling

Last updated on February 17th, 2023 at 12:56 pm

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday condemned the Union Government’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis in India. Taking to Twitter, he shared a BBC video showing how India responded to the pandemic crisis.

The video briefed about various aspects of India’s response to COVID-19 ranging from the plight of migrant workers after a nationwide lockdown was announced to how infections and COVID-19 related deaths rose over the past months. Posting the video, the Congress MP noted that it is “a case study on how not to react to a pandemic.”

On Monday, India’s Coronavirus tally crossed the 71 lakh-mark after more than 66,000 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, according to the data released by the Health Ministry. With this development, India is inching closer to surpassing the United States as the world’s worst Coronavirus-infected country.

Significantly, India crossed a “landmark milestone” on Sunday, after a total of 60 lakh Coronavirus recoveries were reported in the country. A marginal increase in the recovery rate at 86.36 per cent was also observed by the ministry.

While the number of new cases have decreased in recent weeks, the government has called on the public to continue adhering to precautionary norms such as wearing face masks and maintaining social distancing during the upcoming festive season.

In a latest attack at the Centre, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday slammed the government over pending GST compensation to states, adding that the Indian economy has been “shattered by PM (Modi) and COVID-19.” He further said that the “Centre has no money to pay states” with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman telling the state governments to borrow funds.

Rahul Gandhi’s jibe at Centre has come in line with Finance Ministry’s borrowing proposal to state governments in August to meet GST compensation shortfalls for the current financial year. However, around 10 non-BJP ruled states had rejected the finance ministry’s proposal, demanding the formation of a dispute settlement mechanism instead.

Meanwhile, Union Health Ministry Dr Harsh Vardhan has stated that the priority for COVID-19 vaccination the country will be decided on two parameters – occupation hazard and high risk of exposure to the disease, such as frontline healthcare professionals, and the risk of developing severe disease, including those people with comorbidities.

During his recent ‘Sunday Samvad’, the Health Ministry noted that the government is looking at the availability of several types of vaccines depending on their compatibilities with people of different age group.

“Considering the large population size of India, one vaccine or vaccine manufacturer will not be able to fulfil the requirements of vaccinating the whole country. Therefore, India is open to assessing the feasibility of introducing several COVID-19 vaccines in the country as per their availability for the the country’s population,” he said.

Read: N. Sitharaman unveils stimulus plan to boost economy