As India battles the COVID-19 crisis, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Saturday held a video conference with chief ministersprimarily to take their feedback on whether the 21-nation-wide lockdown beextended beyond April 14 to stem the tide of the infections.
The Central government is understood to have also obtainedviews on the issue from all the relevant agencies and stakeholders involved inthe efforts to contain the spread of the pandemic.
The video conference, which began at 11am, comes amidstindications that the central government may extend the nationwide lockdown withsome possible relaxations even as Punjab and Odisha have already announcedextending the lockdown beyond April 14 when the current spell of 21-dayshutdown across the country ends on Tuesday.
The Union Home Ministry has sought views of stategovernments on various aspects, including whether more categories of people andservices need to be exempted. In the current lockdown only essential servicesare exempted.
This is for the second time the prime minister isinteracting with the chief ministers via video link after the lockdown wasimposed.
During his April 2 interaction with chief ministers, Modihad pitched for a “staggered” exit from the ongoing lockdown.
A PTI tally of numbers reported by various states as onThursday at 9.30pm showed a total of 7,510 having been affected by the virusnationwide so far with at least 251 deaths. More than 700 have been cured anddischarged. However, the last update from the Union Health Ministry put thenumber of confirmed infections at 7,447 and the death toll at 239.
Addressing floor leaders of various parties who haverepresentation in Parliament, Modi had on Wednesday made it clear that thelockdown cannot be lifted in one go, asserting that the priority of hisgovernment is to “save each and every life”.
According to an official statement after the Wednesdayinteraction, the prime minister told these leaders that states, districtadministrations and experts have suggested extension of the lockdown to containthe spread of the virus.
Before the lockdown was announced on March 24, the primeminister had interacted with the chief ministers on March 20 to discuss waysand means to check the spread of the novel coronavirus.