Covid Task Force members push for national lockdown

New Delhi: With the caseload increasing and India reporting more deaths than ever, the nation Covid-19 Task Force members have been suggesting for a national lockdown lasting two weeks.

India on Sunday reported an unprecedented 3,689 deaths in the last 24 hours. The task force includes experts from AIIMS and ICMR and has met many times during the recent surge.

The deliberations of these experts are of significance since the chairperson of the task force, V K Paul, reports to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Prime Minister, in his address to the nation on April 20, had said that all efforts should be made to avoid a lockdown which should be used only as the "last resort."

India has been battling with a shortage of oxygen and hospital beds as number of positive Covid-19 cases keep spiking with every passing day. Meanwhile, AIIMS chief Dr Randeep Guleria said India's health infrastructure is "stretched to the limit" and "aggressive lockdowns" - like the one imposed in March last year - in areas with positivity rates over 10 per cent are needed to contain the second Covid-19 wave.