Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi in a video statement on Saturday, 1 May, asked the Union Government to evolve a national consensus to tackle the pandemic.
In a five-minute video message, she expressed her condolences to the families of the deceased and good wishes to the people. She urged the Union government to evolve a political consensus on a policy to tackle the spread of COVID-19 nationally.
She said that the time had come for the central and state governments to wake up and discharge their duties.
"The present situation has shaken the humanity. Oxygen shortage, lack of medicine and beds, the situation is like this in many states. The time has come that the Union and the states should wake up and work together...," Sonia said in the message.
"My first requests to the central government is to transfer Rs 6,000 to migrants, and increase testing. Free vaccine is key to keep people safe," she added.
India’s COVID Surge
Sonia Gandhi's message comes in the wake of the COVID surge in India, which crossed 4 lakh cases on Saturday.
India registered the highest one-day spike of 4,01,999 COVID cases and 3,523 fatalities on Saturday, according to the Health Ministry’s data.
This was the first time when India crossed the four-lakh figure in a day. On Sunday, the country reported 3,92,488 new infections and 3,689 deaths.
(This story has been edited for clarity.)
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