NewsGate Press Network

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday in his address to the nation, announced that the current lockdown will be extended till 03 May 2020.

However some relaxation will be given after one week in those districts which show visible improvements in containing the COVID19 positive cases.

Detailed guidelines on implementation of the new lockdown will be announced on Wednesday, 15 April 2020.

Later in the day, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla issued necessary instructions to all Chief Secretaries putting PM’s orders into administrative action.

Soon after PM’s address, Ministry of Civil Aviation and Ministry of Railways announced suspension of air and rail traffic till May 3.

Later in the day while addressing media persons, a representative of Ministry of Health said that the criteria to determine if the chain of CoronaVirus has been broken in a red zone area would be possible only after no positive cases are reported in a stretch for 28 days.

As of now, the Central Government will conduct a strict monitoring of lockdown measures in the next seven days in each district across the nation.

The results thus obtained will decide which district gets how much freedom to resume activity after 20 April 2020.

Modi’s televised address which began sharp at 10 am lasted for about 25 minutes.

The PM said India has managed to contain the spread of infection well due to its holistic approach in dealing with the crisis.

He added that sacrifices made by people of the country in this fight produced positive results.

The lockdown that came into effect on March 25 was set to expire later midnight tonight. However, last weekend during PM’s interaction with various chief ministers, many indications were reported that lockdown will be extended.