Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Chief Ministers of all states had a 4-hour long meeting. The outcome of the meeting was that, all the ministers’ agreed to extend the national lockdown for two more pictures. This is because the coronavirus outbreak has caused over 300 deaths and infected 9000 people so far.
The lockdown is supposed to end on 14th April. Prioritizing the need of not only to save lives but also to save livelihoods, the Prime Minister underlined the motto “jaan hai to jahaan hai”. Almost all states wanted to extend the lockdown.
However, the final decision of the Prime Minister is awaited. He will make an announcement about lockdown soon.
The works of various states are mentioned below:
Maharashtra (Total cases: 1619; Deaths: 149): The state has extended lockdown upto April 30. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said that lockdown is strict in some areas while in others it can be relaxed. Further extension or withdrawal of the existing lockdown after 30th April will be decided as per the situation, he added.
Andhra Pradesh (Total cases: 409; Deaths: 7): The lockdown in the state will be extended as per the Chief Ministers YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, but it will be only for some particular effected areas.
Karnataka (Total cases: 169; Deaths: 6): Lockdown is further extended till 30th April, and relaxation in the state will be done gradually. Till then farmers are relaxed.
Telangana (Total cases: 452; Deaths: 9): The C.M K. Chandrasekhar Rao has extended lockdown till 30th April. He said that the Telangana government will lift the lockdown in phases after April.
Odisha (Total cases: 50; Deaths 1): The Chief Minister of Odisha, Naveen Pattnaik is the first to increase the lockdown of a state till 30th April. He said, It is quite difficult to save the lives of peoples of the state and save the economic activity of the state at the same time.
Punjab (Total cases: 135; Deaths: 11): It was the second state to extend the lockdown/curfew till May 1. This was done to decrease the spread of coronavirus cases due to harvesting and mandis.