"No Pressure If Covid Numbers Are High": PM Amid Centre-Maharashtra Row | Read

Prime Minister Narendra Modi cut a swathe through the ongoing row over vaccination between the Union health ministry and the Maharashtra government, sending a clear and categorical message that he doesn't endorse any kind of political blame game while fighting this pandemic. "There was a sort of competition between states when the number of coronavirus cases started rising," he said in his address at the meeting with Chief Ministers over the Covid surge in the country. "This state is completely useless its numbers are so high. That state is doing so well. Comparing various states became a fashion," he said a day after Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan's harsh criticism of the Maharashtra government after its comments on dwindling vaccine supply. "I told you that you shouldn't worry a bit if the number of cases is high. Don't be under any kind of pressure that your performance is bad because your numbers are high. You just focus on testing, I'm telling you even now. There is no reason to think you are doing badly if your numbers are high...There will be more positive cases if you do more testing," he added in what was seen as a reassurance to the Maharashtra government.