New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Thursday that the Centre and states must have a common plan to ensure staggered movement of people after the national lockdown ends. He made the comment during a video-conference with the chief ministers of India and added that the ‘virus was threatening our way of life’.
“It is important to formulate a common exit strategy to ensure staggered re-emergence of the population once the lockdown to fight the COVID-19 pandemic ends,” Narendra Modi emphasised, according to a statement issued by the PMO giving details of the interaction. Narendra Modi also asked states to send their suggestions for an exit strategy once the lockdown ends.
The prime minister also said it ‘can’t be business as usual’ after the lockdown and certain safeguards would have to be implemented. “All the states must enforce the lockdown seriously and stick to social distancing,” Modi said.
States have been asked to ‘work on war footing, identify virus hotspots and encircle them’ to contain the infection. The focus for the next few weeks must be testing, tracing, isolation and quarantine, the Prime Minister told the chief ministers.
However, it should be stated here that only nine chief ministers participated in the meeting. The discussions were conducted by Home Minister Amit Shah. However, it was noticed that Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and other Union Ministers who attended the meeting sat far aprt from one another.
According to input received from some chief ministers, there was no response to their request for more funds to fight the virus.
Modi ordered a total national lockdown for 21 days March 24 and said it was necessary to break the chain of transmission of the highly contagious disease, which has infected close to a million worldwide.
During the video conference, Modi and the leaders also discussed contact tracing of hundreds who attended an Islamic sect meeting in Delhi’s Nizamuddin linked to nearly 400 coronavirus cases.
Agencies
