Amid a staggering surge in COVID-19 cases, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said a lockdown should be the “last resort” to deal with the raging pandemic and asked states to convince migrant workers to stay put at their places of work with a guarantee for their lives and livelihood.
In an address to the nation, he also called upon all stakeholders, including the pharmaceutical industry, to deal collectively with the immediate challenge of the shortage of oxygen cylinders.
The PM outlined a number of measures taken by his government, including ramping up of the production and supply of oxygen and medicine for allowing vaccination for everyone above 18 years of age from the next month.
The two key messages of Modi’s over 20 minute-long address was, however, to virtually rule out any immediate nationwide lockdown, a move that had triggered a massive migration of workers from big cities last year and hit the economy hard, and to reach out to migrants.
Industry bodies lauded Modi’s address, saying it sends across the right message to everyone about the country’s fight against COVID-19, including to migrant workers, and will help the Indian economy tide over this pandemic.
Modi said, “In the current situation, we need to save our country from a lockdown. I would also request states to use the lockdown as the last resort. We have to do our best to avoid a lockdown and our focus should rather be on micro containment zones.”
“If we all follow COVID-19 protocols, there will be no need to impose lockdowns,” Modi said. He urged the people to reduce their movements and get vaccinated. (PTI)