Coronavirus India Lockdown Extended Till 3rd May: PM Modi's Speech & Important Updates

Prime Minister Modi addressed the nation for the second time on the subject of the nationwide lockdown on 14 April, 10 AM. He began by congratulating everyone for following the lockdown rules diligently and said that India has intervened the outbreak of the Coronavirus in a timely manner.

I. In a majorly anticipated move, he said that the 21-day lockdown would have to be extended till 3 May. The central government has been conferring with state leaders as well as the Union Cabinet for the past one week in order to come up with the best plan to tackle the rising number of positive cases.

II. He said strict rules will be observed under the lockdown protocol till 20 April and urged everyone to keep following these rules. Major hotspots will be sealed off and any activity surrounding these areas will be closely monitored. This will prevent the spreading of COVID-19 outside the identified hotspots.

III. The areas with relatively less number of cases will have conditional relaxation pertaining to the lockdown rules. This move will allow small businesses to operate with due precautions being taken. Daily wage earners and economically backward communities will benefit from these relaxations.

IV. Detailed guidelines will be released to the country on Wednesday, 15 April 2020.

V. He also reminded everyone that there is enough stock of essentials and medicines. All the delays in the supply chain systems are being addressed on a daily basis.

The Lockdown 2.0 comes with the same set of rules as the previous lockdown. The Government and law enforcement agencies have emphasized staying indoors unless they need to step out for essential work - buying medicines, groceries etc.

Social distancing will be the norm for the foreseeable future as well as being in self- quarantine.

In the coming days, we will see the economically backward communities and daily wage earners suffer due to the lockdown. Here’s hoping that the conditional relaxation will help them resume their pursuit of earning a livelihood.

You may read the detailed report of the PM’s speech here.

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