Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday indicated that the lockdowns of the kind that India underwent between April and May were unlikely to be repeated. He asked the Chief Ministers of 14 States and the Lieutenant-Governor of a Union Territory to prepare for Unlock 2, following the graded opening of economic activities under Unlock 1 since June 1 .
He made these remarks in the second part of his two-day video-conference with the Chief Ministers and the Lieutenant-Governors on COVID-19 . “We need to fight against rumours of lockdown since the country is now in the phase of unlocking. We need to think about Phase-II of Unlock and how to minimise harm to our people,” he said in his concluding remarks.
In his opening remarks, he said that while the country was in a vastly better position now with regard to testing of samples, supply of personal protective equipment and quarantine, there was a need to utilise the testing capacity to the full and make sure that whoever contracted the disease had appropriate quarantine and isolation facilities. He pointed to the supply of ventilators using the PM CARES Fund and the beds and quarantine centres made available as part of the efforts to increase capacity. “Our priority should be increasing health infrastructure,” he said.
Mr. Modi noted that with the reduction in restrictions, indicators of economic performance were showing signs of revival. He asked the States to boost infrastructure and take steps to revive construction-related activities.
He emphasised that the emotional aspect of the battle against the virus, including the fight against the fear of being infected and the stigma attached to it, could be handled by underscoring the fact that the number of people who had recovered from the disease was far larger than those who died of it.
The Chief Ministers of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Gujarat, Bihar, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana, and the Lieutenant-Governor of Jammu and Kashmir took part at the meeting.
