Dismissing reports, government says no plan to extend 21-day lockdown
Discrediting media reports that suggested the 21-day lockdown of the nation will be extended, Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba on Monday said the government, led by BJP, has no such plans. Starting March 25, sweeping restrictions were imposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a bid to contain the spread of COVID-19, the highly contagious disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Here are more details.
The world's biggest lockdown began last week
With PM Modi's announcement, over a billion Indians were put under lockdown. He had noted that several countries, including the developed ones, struggled with the pandemic, whose outbreak happened in China last year. Yesterday, addressing the countrymen through his radio program Mann Ki Baat, PM Modi apologized for the hardships the measure caused but added this was the only way to fight the battle.
PM Modi stressed on the importance of following lockdown
"I understand that no one wants to break the rules deliberately, but there are some people who are doing so. To them, I will say that if they don't follow this lockdown, it will be difficult to protect ourselves from danger of coronavirus," he said.
Migrant workers suffered, walked towards home, fanned fears
The lockdown hit the migrant workers the worst, who fled cities. With several clusters of poor workers walking on highways, arriving at bus depots, and screaming for help, dominated news, a report titled 'Modi govt could extent coronavirus lockdown by a week as migrant exodus triggers alarms' claimed the lockdown would be extended. Their exodus left the lockdown useless, it asserted.
Surprised to see such reports: Gauba
However, this morning, Gauba set the record straight by saying, "I'm surprised to see such reports, there is no such plan of extending the lockdown." Separately, the Press Information Bureau tweeted, "There are rumors and media reports, claiming that the government will extend the #Lockdown21 when it expires. The Cabinet Secretary has denied these reports, and stated that they are baseless. (sic)"
India's cases have crossed 1,000; 29 have passed away
According to NDTV, the government plans to assess the situation in the coming week. If possible, the Centre would identify and isolate areas, where the infection has wreaked havoc, and deal with the disease in a coordinated manner. As per the latest reports, there are a total of 1,071 positive COVID-19 cases in India, of which 942 are active. 29 have died.
