PM Modi to address nation at 10 am today, announcement on lockdown extension likely

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation at 10 am today, on the last day of the 21-day nationwide lockdown imposed with the aim to contain the spread of the deadly COVID-19.

The information about PM Modi's address had come from a tweet from the official handle of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO India) on Monday.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation at 10 am on April 14, 2020," PMO India's tweet read.

Prior to this, the Prime Minister had on Saturday held consultations with Chief Ministers through video-conferencing, during which talks were held over the need for extending the lockdown further after taking into consideration the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the country.

During the course of the meeting, the Prime Minister had said that there seems to be a consensus amongst the States on the extension of lockdown by another two weeks. He underlined that the motto of the government earlier was 'jaan hai to jahaan hai' but now it is 'jaan bhi jahaan bhi'.

Talking about the way ahead post the end of the 21-day lockdown period, the PM had said that the coming three to four weeks would be critical in determining the impact of steps taken to curb the spread of the disease and had also suggested specific measures for agriculture and allied sectors, including those needed to facilitate the sale of farm produce.

Three weeks ago in his address to the nation in which he announced the lockdown in the country, Prime Minister Modi had talked of 'jaan hai to jahaan hai,' stressing the urgent need to save lives.

There have been suggestions that going forward the country could be divided into red, orange, and green zones based on the number of COVID-19 cases and that some industries could be allowed to operate in orange and green zones while taking precautions against the disease.

However, several States such as Odisha, Maharashtra, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, among others have already announced the extension of lockdown taking into account the rising number of cases in the respective States.

As of Monday, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country has reached 9,341, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).