India extends nationwide coronavirus lockdown till 3rd May

DHARAMSALA, 14 April: India today extended its nationwide lockdown until 3 May to tackle and prevent the spread of COVID- 19 pandemics.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the announcement to extend India’s coronavirus lockdown in a televised address to the nation at 10 am as the initial 21-day lockdown was due to end today.

“Till May 3rd we must remain under lockdown and observe the same discipline,” Prime Minister Modi said.

Modi lauded the people of India for enduring the hardships and their cooperation as he said the nation was successful in containing the outbreak of the pandemic to a large extend.

He further stated that India now has to keep an eye on new hotspots of the pandemic and take stringent measures to curb the spread.

“The fight against Corona will be stricter now,” he said and added that “from 20 April, based on extensive scrutiny, some relaxation of the lockdown will be permitted in areas where the spread has either been contained or prevented.”

“The Government will come out with extensive guidelines tomorrow,” he added.

Before Modi extended India’s lockdown, several states in India such as Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, West Bengal, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Telangana have already announced the extension of the lockdown till 30 April.  

Prime Minister Modi announced the 21-day lockdown of India from the midnight of 24 March till April 14 on when India reported 550 corona cases and 10 death.

He further described the decision to announce the initial lockdown of India as a timely measure rather than procrastinating, which he said has resulted in the nation’s COVID-19 fatality rate and the number of cases being much lower than compared to several other countries.

According to worldometers.com, India has 10,541 COVID-19 positive cases that have resulted in 358  death while 1,205 of infected have recovered.

The global figure read 1,925,571 COVID-19 positive cases,  119,718 deaths and  452,188 recovered cases.