The Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic has gripped the country and while India is better off compared to most developed nations that have been an exponential growth in positive cases and deaths, the government is mulling whether the 21-day-lockdown, that was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi should be extended till the 30th of April.
Today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is conducting meetings via video conferencing with all the Chief Minister of the states to decide the way forward in India’s fight to arrest the spread of Wuhan Coronavirus. In the meeting, it is likely to be decided what would the modalities of further action be.
Is it now being reported that during the meeting with the Prime Minister, 5 Chief Ministers have spoken up in the meeting that has been underway since 11 AM and 3 CMs of states have voted for the lockdown to be extended till the 30th of April. This would amount to a 2-week-extension to the 21-day-lockdown that was announced by the Prime Minister. Out of the 5 states that have spoken up so far, the three states that have voted for the lockdown to be extended are opposition ruled states.
अभी तक पाँच मुख्यमंत्री बोले जिनमें से तीन ने लॉकडाउन 30 अप्रैल तक बढ़ाने को कहा। तीनों विपक्ष के शासन वाले राज्य हैं: महाराष्ट्र, पंजाब और दिल्ली। #StayHome #Lockdownextention
— Akhilesh Sharma (@akhileshsharma1) April 11, 2020
According to journalist Akhilesh Sharma, the three opposition ruled states that have voted for the lockdown to be extended till the 30th of April are Maharashtra, Punjab and Delhi.
In India, Maharashtra has emerged as the state with the most number of Coronavirus positive cases and deaths being recorded. According to the Ministry website, till the time this report was written there were a total of 1574 cases of Coronavirus in Maharashtra and 110 deaths.
In Delhi, 903 total cases with 13 deaths and in Punjab, there were 132 cases with 11 deaths.
In Delhi especially, most of the 903 cases are linked to the Tablighi Jamaat even that was held in the Nizamuddin area of Delhi. Given the scale of the event, Delhi has substantially managed to arrest the number of cases that have been declared from the state. Maharashtra on the other hand has been spiralling out of control, being the state with the highest spread of Wuhan Coronavirus.
In such circumstances, it remains to be seen whether the nationwide lockdown to arrest spread of Coronavirus would be extended till the 30th of April of would the decision to impose such lockdown would be left to individual states that would then seal the hotspots to arrest to pandemic.
