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India's Lockdown Extended Till May 3, Detailed Guidelines Tomorrow, Modi Announces

Some restrictions may be eased after April 20. Till then all districts, localities, states will be closely monitored, as to how strictly they are implementing norms.
Modi's speech on extending lockdown
Screenshot
Modi's speech on extending lockdown

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the national lockdown has been extended to May 3 in his address to the nation at 10 AM on Tuesday, his third address in a month.

Tuesday’s speech comes on what would have been the last day of the 21-day national lockdown put in place on March 25 to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Earlier this month, he had shared a scheduled video message asking people to light candles, lamps and torches for 9 minutes at 9 PM as a symbol of hope.

Highlights from the speech:

— India’s situation is stable compared to developed countries where cases are 25-30 times more than our country, the PM said.

— India benefited greatly from the lockdown, Modi said.

— “State and citizens have suggested that we extend the lockdown and so we will extend it till May 3. ”

— Till April 20, all districts, localities, states will be closely monitored, as to how strictly they are implementing norms. States which will not let hotspots increase, they could be allowed to let some important activities resume, but with certain conditions.

— Govt to issue detailed guidelines on the extended lockdown on Wednesday.

— India has enough stock of medicines and ration, Modi said.

— “There are 220 labs for testing. We have made provisions for 1 lakh beds and there are over 600 hospitals that are only dealing with Covid-19 cases. We’re expanding these facilities.”

On Saturday, a broad consensus had emerged between the prime minister and state chief ministers that the national lockdown should be extended by at least two weeks.

Tamil Nadu and Arunachal Pradesh on Monday formally announced an extension of the lockdown till April 30 taking to eight the number of states adopting this step. The other states are Odisha, Punjab, Maharashtra, Telangana, West Bengal and Karnataka

Several chief ministers at the same time have pushed for resumption of some economic activities like in the farming sector in regions with no COVID-19 cases.

With most states favouring the lockdown to be extended at least by two weeks beyond April 14, the government is broadly focusing on a two-pronged action plan―containing the spread of COVID-19 in the country and staggered resumption of economic activities, an official to the Press Trust of India.

States are likely to designate districts, towns and cities as red, orange and green zones depending upon the number of COVID-19 cases as part of efforts to allow differentiated restoration of normalcy with conditions like uses of masks and social distancing in public, the news agency reported.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.