Face covers, human distancing new normal; PM says economy also important while fighting COVID-19

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said economy needs to be given importance too while fighting COVID-19 and asked chief ministers to plan for the way ahead after two phases of lockdowns end on May 3. He also cautioned that the danger is far from over, while Health Ministry said a record number of 60 COVID-19 patients have died in the last 24 hours.

However, a ray of hope emerged with authorities declaring that 85 districts across India have not reported a single infection in the last two weeks and five northeastern states have become totally free of the virus. The nationwide tally of coronavirus positive cases, in the meantime, crossed 29,000 with at least 935 deaths, but more than 6,600 patients have been discharged, pushing the recovery rate to over 22 per cent, according to figures announced by various states and UTs.

Domestic rating agency Crisil warned that the "disastrous" lockdowns will lead to losses of Rs 10 lakh crore, as it nearly halved its GDP growth estimate for the current fiscal to 1.8 per cent.

"Lockdowns are showing a disastrous impact on the economy and could lead to a permanent loss of GDP, unemployment and poverty, despite relief packages, Crisil said.

On the positive side, the Health Ministry said 85 districts have not reported a single positive case in the last 14 days, while 16 districts have not witnessed even one case in the last 28 weeks.

Separately, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said five Northeastern states -- Sikkim, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Tripura -- are now completely coronavirus-free and the other three -- Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram -- have not added any new COVID-19 positive case in the last few days.

Himachal Pradesh has also nor reported a single positive case for four days now.

The nationwide tally suggested that some large urban centres are facing the brunt of the deadly virus much more than many other parts of the country with just three of them -- Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad -- accounting for almost one-third of the total positive cases in the country. These three also account for nearly 40 per cent of COVID-19 deaths.

Officials said education institutions, shopping malls, religious places and public transport are likely to remain shut beyond May 3, but limited movement of private vehicles may be allowed in green zones. But passenger train and air services are unlikely to start anytime soon, while ban on puiblic and social gatherings may also continue, an official said.

There is a possibility of regulated train or air services after mid-May between some designated places depending on the COVID-19 situation.

A final decision on lockdown will be taken during the weekend, officials said on Monday after a meeting on the strategy to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

At least five chief ministers out of nine who spoke during the video conference interaction with the prime minister are said to have strongly pitched for an extension of the lockdown beyond May 3 while a few advocated a cautious relaxation in curbs with limited activities in COVID-19 free districts.

As the final week of the second phase of lockdown began, Modi conveyed to chief ministers that the country will have to give importance to the economy as well as continue the fight against the novel coronavirus.

In his fourth video conference with the chief ministers over the pandemic, Modi also underlined that the nationwide lockdown has "yielded positive results as the country has managed to save thousands of lives in the past one and a half months."
Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister Y S Jagan Reddy asked people to take precautions to prevent the infection as he warned, "We cannot eliminate it, so we have to live with it."