Wish everyone strength: Naseeruddin Shah on coronavirus

The extent of the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the daily lives of the people is mind-boggling, says veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah, wishing everyone strength to overcome these trying times.

There have been 10,363 confirmed cases of coronavirus with 339 deaths due to COVID-19 so far in India, as per the Union health ministry data.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced the extension of the nationwide lockdown for another 19 days till May 3 to contain the spread of the disease.

Shah, a veteran of Hindi cinema who has also extensively worked in theatre, expressed concern over the impact of the lockdown on the industry, including the stage artistes.

"Apart from the daily wage workers in the film industry, the theatre artistes don't just get that much money anyway. They are the people who do other things to earn their livelihood. Most of them do theatre as a hobby. The professional Marathi theatre must be suffering but then at the same time, we need to also think of millions of people.

"So many restaurants have been closed and so the waiters, people who work in kitchens, the taxi drivers, the rickshaw walas, they all must be suffering. This is all very mind-boggling. Where does one start finding the solution for this kind of thing? I don't know. I just wish everyone strength enough to accomplish things in their own way," the actor told PTI.

At the same time, Shah said the pandemic should make people realise realise that they need to stop spreading filth all over the place.

The actor added that when it comes to civic sense, the people of the country are "not the cleanest" in the world.

"I think this pandemic may have a beneficial fallout and that is to make us all realise that we can't go around spreading filth all over the place.

"I may be called an anti-national for saying this but the fact is that we aren't the cleanest people in the world. We've got to realise that littering the roads, spitting and urinating on the roads, all this is just not done. Maybe this will help us in some ways in the long run," he said.