Former PM Manmohan Singh tests COVID-19 positive, admitted to AIIMS Delhi

Amidst the sharp surge in COVID-19 cases across the country, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has also contracted the virus on Monday. Singh, 88-years-old, has admitted been to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) after his test results returned COVID-19 positive. The former Prime Minister, who served two terms from 2004 and 2014, has had a coronary bypass surgery previously and was placed under medical care last year after he complained of chest pains. 

Manmohan Singh Writes to PM Modi

A day after the Congress Working Committee's (CWC) meeting over the COVID-19 situation across the country, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wrote to PM Narendra Modi suggesting measures to curb the second Coronavirus wave hurting India's battle against the virus. In a 5-point suggestion later, the former Prime Minister has advised PM Modi to ramp up the immunization drive and publicize the details of the vaccine supplies and the number of doses in transit. 

Citing the difficulties faced by people over the past year since the Coronavirus outbreak in 2020, Manmohan Singh highlighted that apart from the other things needed to fight the pandemic, ramping up the vaccination drive is of utmost priority. 

Notably, the former Prime Minister has also urged the NDA government at the Centre to indicate how the supply of vaccine doses will be distributed across states 'based on a transparent supply'. Suggesting that the Centre should retain 10 per cent of the jabs for emergency needs, Singh said that the states should have a clear signal of 'likely availability so that they can plan their roll out'. 

COVID-19 situation in India

As the world continues to battle against the Coronavirus pandemic, India so far has recorded over 1,50,61,919 positive cases, out of which 1,29,53,821 have successfully recovered and 1,78,769 have died. As per the latest reports from MoHFW, in the past 24 hours 2,73,810 new cases, 1,44,178 fresh recoveries and 1,619 deaths have been reported. Currently, the total number of active cases in India is 19,29,329.