PM Narendra Modi rubbishes lockdown rumours

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday rubbished all speculations of reimposition of lockdown, calling all Chief Ministers to "fight rumours", as he asked states and Union Territories to get ready for Unlock 2.0 while being mindful of the challenges.

Addressing Chief Ministers for the second day of the 6th PM-CM video conference to decide on the strategy to fight the pandemic, the Prime Minister told Chief Ministers that there is a "need" to fight "rumours of lockdown".

Social media has been abuzz with the same after rising Covid-19 tally in metros, particularly in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai.

The Prime Minister told the CMs: "We, now need to focus on phase 2 of the Unlock process, while at the same time, how to minimise any possibilities of harm to citizens." This was the stance taken by him even in Tuesday's meeting - the first stage of the meeting - where he gave a strong hint of further opening up of the economy while ensuring that basic rules like wearing a mask, maintaining hygiene or observing social distancing are followed strictly.

"We have to always keep in mind that the more we can stop the corona, the more it will stop growing, the more our economy will open, our offices will open, the markets will open, the means of transport will open, and so will new employment opportunities," he had said.

On Wednesday, PM Modi reiterated that India has been able to stop the exponential growth of the pandemic due to timely intervention. He stressed that in India, very few patients are in need of ICU or ventilators.

Key states like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar and Telangana were part of Wednesday's meeting.

Noting that the spread of COVID-19 is more in a few big states and cities, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday asked chief ministers to make full use of their state's existing testing capacity and also work to augment health infrastructure.

Modi said big crowds, lack of physical-distancing, daily movement of large number of people and small houses in some cities have made the battle against the coronavirus "more challenging". This was the second day of Modi's sixth round of consultations with chief ministers on fighting COVID-19 pandemic. Saving lives should be the top priority, he said, and called for expanding health infrastructure, according to a statement.

Citing the details of the boost in capacity to deal with the virus, he asked states to continue to put emphasis on "health Infrastructure, information systems, emotional support and public participation".

Praising efforts of states and local administration, he said the country now has more than 900 COVID-19 testing labs, lakhs of special beds, thousands of isolation and quarantine centres, adequate stocks of testing kits, with over one crore PPEs and almost same numbers of N-95 masks supplied to states. Despite a rise in coronavirus cases in a few places, people's patience, administration's work and dedication of corona warriors have ensured that things did not go out of control, he said.