COVID-19: PM Modi indicates longer lockdown, asks CMs to come up with blueprint

New Delhi, May 12: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday indicated that the nationwide lockdown to control coronavirus will have to continue beyond May 17 and asked Chief Ministers to spell out how they want to deal with the regime.

"We must all plan for the new reality," PM Modi told at the six-hour long meeting with Chief Ministers of all the states.

"I am of the firm view that the measures needed in the first phase of lockdown were not needed during the 2nd phase and similarly the measures needed in the 3rd Phase are not needed in the fourth," he said.

"We have a twofold challenge to reduce the transmission rate of the disease, and to increase public activity gradually, while adhering to all the guidelines, and we will have to work towards achieving both these objectives", he added.

"I request you all to share with me by 15th May, a broad strategy on how each one of you would want to deal with the lockdown regime in your particular state. I want states to make a blueprint on how to deal with various nuances during and after the gradual easing of the lockdown," PM Modi said.

Modi asserted that social distancing was the biggest weapon to fight coronavirus till "we do not find a vaccine or a solution", and said, "We must understand that the world has fundamentally changed post COVID-19. Now the world will be pre-Corona, post-Corona just like the case of the world wars. And this would entail significant changes in how we function...We must all plan for the new reality."

The 54-day nationwide lockdown since March 25 to contain the spread of coronavirus is scheduled to end on May 17.