COVID-19: Harmeet Desai urges people to follow PM Modi's appeal to light candles on April 5

Indian table tennis player Harmeet Desai on Friday urged people to follow Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal to countrymen to light diyas and candles on April 5 at 9 pm to fight the darkness spread by the pandemic.

"In this tough time when we are fighting the pandemic of coronavirus our Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a beautiful message that we should stand united as a team to fight coronavirus," Desai told ANI.

"Let us all join hands by switching off the lights at our respective home at 9 pm on April 5 for nine minutes and also by lighting up the diyas, candles and flashlights of our phones or torches to spread solidarity and positivity," he added.

Desai's comments came soon after attending a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on COVID-19 lockdown, via video conferencing.

The meeting was attended by 40 sportspersons of the country including Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Mary Kom on the ongoing situation in the country due to the coronavirus pandemic.

This is the first time that the Prime Minister has interacted with sports personalities since the 21-day lockdown was enforced on March 24 to contain the spread of the virus.

Other prominent personalities present in the meeting were PT Usha, Pullela Gopichand, Vishwanathan Anand, Hima Das, Bajrang Punia, PV Sindhu, Rohit Sharma, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, and Cheteshwar Pujara.