“There is no other option but to practice social distancing in order to evade the coronavirus crisis. Don’t step out of your house. Draw a ‘Laxman Rekha’ outside your house. From midnight tonight, there will be a countrywide lockdown in place,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said while addressing the nation on Tuesday.
The Prime Minister has announced a 21-day-long lockdown across the country from 12:00 AM on March 25 in order to tackle the ongoing coronavirus crisis. The total number of cases of the coronavirus or COVID-19 in India has risen to 551 with 10 deaths. Maharashtra has been the worst-hit state with 110 positive COVID-19 cases.
“Social distancing applies to everyone, including your prime minister. You have to remember that a Coronavirus infected person initially appears to be normal and doesn't show symptoms. So maintain precautions and stay at home,” said Narendra Modi while adding, “If we are not able to manage the upcoming 21 days (of nationwide complete lockdown), we will be pushed back 21 years.”
The Centre has allocated Rs15,000 crore for people infected with COVID-19. This includes increasing the number of beds, testing kits, and even training of professionals to combat the disease.
“Many countries across the world, including France, Italy, Germany, Iran, etc. have not been able to curtail the spread of the disease despite having state-of-the-art health infrastructure,” Narendra Modi said while informing that it took 67 days for the number of infected cases to rise to one lakh.
“However, it took only 11 days for the next one lakh cases to come out. This indicates the speed at which coronavirus is spreading,” said Modi.
Ministry of Home Affairs will shortly issue guidelines of effective measures and exception to the essential services during the lockdown period. “A 24/7 MHA hotlines to assist states during this period will be initiated shortly,” said Modi while urging people not to panic as the country has enough stock of essential commodities and food grains.
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