Indian Prime Minister urges citizens to follow COVID-19 lockdown

NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged people to obey a countrywide lockdown and social distancing steps as COVID-19 cases continued to escalate.

According to reports, Modi said the country was in the midst of a ‘war’ and the country’s 1.3 billion people should not be misled into believing the spread of the COVID-19 had been brought fully under control by more than a month of lockdown.

The prime minister “We should not be trapped into over-confidence and nurse the belief that COVID-19 has not reached our city, our village, our streets, our office, and so will not reach them,” he added.

“Physical distancing, covering the face with a cover or a mask and washing our hands again and again will be the biggest medicine to fight this disease in the days to come,” Modi said.

Indian health officials have reported 26,496 cases of the coronavirus, and 824 deaths from different parts of the country.

The officials have established teams to focus on compliance with COVID-19 lockdown steps imposed on 25 March; however, experts fear they have not been able to limit the spread of coronavirus.

The lockdown, in which domestic and international travel is banned and factories, schools, offices and all shops other than those supplying essential services are shut, is slated to end on May 3, but authorities may extend it.

India’s high population density, poor sanitation infrastructure and high levels of internal migration have raised concern over the spread of the COVID-19 in the country.