Post states’ requests, govt mulls lockdown extension

With only a week left for the 21-day nationwide lockdown to end, sources, however, did not indicate if a final decision has been taken on the extension, and Joint Secretary in the Union health ministry Lav Aggarwal said, “no decision on extending lockdown as yet (taken), please don’t speculate.”

However, several Chief Ministers have favoured the extension of the lockdown as they feel that the country can recover from the adverse impact of the shutdown on its economy but it was necessary to save lives from the fast-spreading virus, which has killed more than 76,500 people globally and afflicted over 13.6 lakh across 183 countries.

Also on Tuesday, a group of ministers (GoM) on COVID-19 recommended that all educational institutions should remain shut and all religious activities having public participation should be restricted till May 15 irrespective of whether the government extends the 21-day lockdown beyond April 14, official sources said after a meeting of the GoM. The meeting, chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and  attended by Home Minister Amit Shah and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, also concluded that religious centres and shopping malls must not be allowed to resume normal functioning at least for four weeks from April 14. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said his government will extend lockdown, if a need arises, while his counterpart in Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot said the state cannot withdraw the lockdown immediately, and it has to be done in a phased manner.