Restrictions to be eased in areas after April 20
1,463 new cases, 27 deaths in last 24 hours, death toll mounts to 353.
United News of India
New Delhi, Apr 14: Twenty-one day lockdown of 1.3 billion people in India, set to end on Tuesday, was further extended till May 3 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the upward tick of novel coronavirus cases continued crossing 10,000 mark.
PM Modi, in a televised address, announced the extension of nationwide lockdown saying the pandemic cannot be allowed to spread any further.
The country registered 1,463 new Covid cases and 27 deaths in last 24 hours, taking the total positive cases to 10,815 and death toll to 353.
Laying the roadmap ahead for the nation, the Prime Minister said that restrictions will be eased in areas where the lockdown is implemented properly and new cases are not registered till April 20.
PM Modi acknowledged that the country is paying a heavy price for the shutdown that has brought the economy to a standstill. ‘It undoubtedly looks costly right now, but measured against the lives of Indian citizens, there is no comparison’, he said.
Referring to extending the lockdown, Health Ministry’s Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal, in a daily briefing, said that their first effort was to break chain of transmission.
“That is why we follow up for 28 days. That is why we are promoting social distancing with lockdown. Each city and every district will undergo an evaluation till April 20; thereafter limited activity will be allowed in selected areas which have controlled the situation well”, Agarwal said.
While admitting that there was a surge in cases, he said as many as 179 people have been cured in last 24 hours and total number of discharged have reached 1,036.
“As of now, a total of 602 dedicated COVID-19 hospitals with 1,06,719 isolation beds and 12,024 ICU beds have been developed”, he informed.
