No plan to extend 21-day lockdown: Indian government
"The Cabinet Secretary expressed surprise and said that there is no such plan of extending the lockdown"
Indian government has said that rumours and media reports claimingt that the government will extend the 21-day lockdown are "baseless"
"There are rumours and media reports, claiming that the Government will extend the 21-day lockdown when it expires.The Cabinet Secretary has denied these reports, and stated that they are baseless," said the Press Information Bureau, the government's media body, reported NDTV.
Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba had also denied such reports this morning. "I'm surprised to see such reports, there is no such plan of extending the lockdown," the government's top bureaucrat was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
After a day's Janata Curfew on March 22, Prime Minister Modi on March 24 announced a countrywide lockdown from March 25 for a period of 3 weeks.
In the past week, keeping up the supply of essential goods and food, and controlling the massive flow of migrants heading home have been the biggest challenges in the fight against the disease.
Large crowds at shops and borders have defeated the purpose of "social distancing" necessary to check the spread of coronavirus.
In India, there are more than 1,000 coronavirus cases now, including 27 deaths.
