The union government has decided to extend the nationwide lockdown for two weeks, government sources said on Saturday. "During the video-conferencing with state CMs today, most states requested Prime Minister Modi to extend the lockdown for two more weeks. The Central Government is considering this request," a government spokesperson said.
Though the centre has not officially announced the decision, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal hailed the plan to extend lockdown. He tweeted: “PM has taken the correct decision to extend lockdown. Today, India’s position is better than many developed countries because we started lockdown early. If it is stopped now, all gains would be lost. To consolidate, it is important to extend it.”
There are indications that an extension in lockdown may come with certain relaxations to boost economic activities and sources said proposals being considered include lesser restrictions in areas unaffected by the virus spread.
The 21-day-lockdown which began on March 25 to contain the COVID-19 outbreak in India was due to end on April 14.
In a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi had with all state chief ministers to discuss the situation arising due to the COVID-19 pandemic on Saturday, the chief ministers of Delhi and Punjab on Saturday suggested extension of the nationwide lockdown till April 30.
The Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has also suggested the extension of the lockdown till April 30 considering the high density of population in the state.
In the interaction held via video conferencing, most of the chief ministers suggested that the nationwide lockdown should be extended by two more weeks, an official statement said.
Emphasising the criticality of coming 3-4 weeks for determining the impact of the steps taken till now to contain the virus, Modi told the chief ministers that "teamwork is the key to facing the challenge".
It said Modi also underlined that the motto of the government earlier was 'jaan hai to jahaan hai' (the world exists if life exists) but now it is 'jaan bhi jahaan bhi' (lives as well as livelihoods). According to sources, the government is focusing on hotspots of COVID-19 to contain the spread of the pandemic and on efforts to kick-start the economy once the lockdown is lifted.
This is for the second time the prime minister is interacting with the chief ministers via video link after the lockdown was imposed.
During his April 2 interaction with chief ministers, Modi had pitched for a "staggered" exit from the ongoing lockdown.
According to the Health Ministry, 1,035 fresh COVID-19 cases and 40 deaths due to the disease were reported in the last 24 hours across the country, taking the total number of cases to 7,447 and deaths to 239 nationwide.
