New Delhi, April 2: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday advised state governments to hold meetings with religious leaders and urge them to join the fight against coronavirus. In his interaction with chief ministers of different states via video conferencing, PM Narendra Modi said coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, has threatened the belief, tradition, faith and ideology of all citizens. Therefore, there should be a united front against the pandemic, he added. Coronavirus Cases In India Jump to 1965 With 131 COVID-19 Positive Cases in The Past 12 Hours, Death Toll Rises to 50.

"Coronavirus has attacked our belief, tradition, faith and ideology. In order to save our beliefs and religions, we will have to first defeat coronavirus. It's high time people of all religion and ideology must come together and defeat coronavirus," PM Modi said. He further appealed to the Chief Ministers to reach out to leaders of all religions and welfare social welfare organizations and urged them to join the fight against COVID-19 with their followers. Catch Live Updates of Coronavirus Outbreak Here.

"I appeal to you (state governments) to hold meetings with leaders of all religions and urged them to tell their followers to join and cooperate in the fight against coronavirus," PM Modi said. He added that such meetings should be held at the state, district, town and block levels to build up a united front based on community-approach in the battle against the pandemic. This was his second interaction with the chief ministers over measures to combat coronavirus.

PM Narendra Modi's Message to State Governments:

His remarks came days after several people who attended a religious gathering in Tablighi Jamaat's Markaz in Delhi's Nizamuddin area tested positive for coronavirus. Hundreds other who either attended the gathering or came in contact with the attendees have been quarantined in different states.

During the interaction, the Prime Minister thanked the states for supporting the lockdown decision due to which India has achieved some success in limiting the spread of COVID-19. He also appreciated the states for working together as a team to check the spread of the virus. He, however, warned that the global situation remains far from satisfactory and informed them about probability of a possible second wave of the spread of the virus in some countries.

Outlining the common goal for the country to ensure minimum loss of life, Modi said, "In the next few weeks, testing, tracing, isolation and quarantine should remain the areas of focus." He highlighted the necessity of "maintaining supply of essential medical products, availability of raw material for manufacture of medicines and medical equipment" and said it is necessary to ensure availability of separate, dedicated hospital facilities for COVID-19 patients.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 02, 2020 05:39 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).