Coronavirus a huge challenge; need to mobilise scientists, engineers: Rahul

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday described the Covid-19 pandemic as a "huge challange" and an "opportunity", saying there is a need to mobilise the country's scientists, engineers and data experts to work on innovative solutions to the crisis.

"The Covid19 pandemic is a huge challenge, but it is also an opportunity," he said in a tweet.

"We need to mobilise our huge pool of scientists, engineers & data experts to work on innovative solutions needed during the crisis," the former Congress president said.

The #Covid19 pandemic is a huge challenge but it is also an opportunity. We need to mobilise our huge pool of scientists, engineers & data experts to work on innovative solutions needed during the crisis.

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) April 18, 2020

On Thursday, Rahul had called for a united fight against the pandemic and said a lockdown is not the solution to defeat coronavirus.

He had asserted that aggressive testing is the "biggest weapon" to fight the virus.

With an increase of over 900 Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, India's total count rose to 14,378 on Saturday, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.

Out of the total cases, 11,906 cases are active, while 1,992 people have been cured/discharged/migrated and 480 deaths have been reported, as per the ministry.

India is under a nationwide lockdown aimed to curtail the spread of deadly coronavirus.