India has to be careful during festivals as Covid-19 crisis continues: PM

Indians have to show restraint as the country enters a month-long period of festivals during the coronavirus pandemic, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday.

"Dussehra marks the victory of truth over falsehood. It also marks the victory of patience over trouble. People are living their lives and celebrating festivals with great restraint (against the coronavirus). Our victory in this fight is certain,” said Modi in the seventieth edition of Mann ki Baat, his monthly radio address to the nation.

"Previously, a large number of people used to gather in Durga Pandals--it was a fair-like atmosphere during Durga Puja and Dussehra, but this time it didn't happen. Many more festivals are to be observed; we've to work with restraint during this crisis,” he said.

"Please wear masks, wash your hands and maintain a distance between yourselves," he said in a speech in which he spoke about local manufacturing and appealed citizens to light lamps in honour of Indian soldiers defending the nation’s borders. 

India is the worst hit in the world after the United States in the coronavirus pandemic, although infections are slowing in the world’s second-most populous country. India is reporting more than 57,000 cases of the virus a day, viewed on a weekly average, with 58 new cases per 10,000 people in Asia’s third-largest economy, according to a Reuters analysis.

Modi, in the previous edition of Mann ki Baat, had defended the legislations liberalising agriculture trade and said they would benefit farmers by giving them the freedom to choose where they wanted to sell their produce.