New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended lock down till May 3 to control the spread of Covid- 19 in India on Tuesday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his televised address to the nation on Tuesday said the restrictions could be reviewed for the least affected parts of the country on April 20.

Modi said in his 25-minute address shortly after India crossed the 10,000-mark in Covid-19 cases. “After taking into account all suggestions, we have decided to extend the lockdown till May 3,” PM. “Till April 20, each district; each state will be monitored closely to see whether the lockdown is being followed. Then we can decide on relaxing the restrictions,” said the Prime Minister, who used a traditional red and white “Gamchha” or cloth towel as a mask before beginning his address.

He said that some essential activities could be allowed after April 20 in parts of the country that showed some improvement in fighting the infection. The government will put out detailed guidelines tomorrow on the lockdown. “We absolutely must ensure that this virus does not spread to any further parts of the country. We should be worried every time we hear that someone in some part of the country has died of the virus. We must ensure that new hotspots do not spring up.”

India was in much better shape than many major countries in the fight against Covid- 19, he said. “If the country had not taken a holistic, integrated approach and had not acted fast, then it is frightening to think what it would have been like today,” he said. Asserting the need for a strict lockdown to ensure that COVID-19 did not spread to a single new area, Modi said to the citizens had persevered and confronted every difficulty to ensure that India was ahead in the fight against the virus. “The power of ‘We The People Of India’ has been seen in the country during the lockdown,” he said.

Prime Minister also put out a seven-point charter for people to follow, which included social distancing, taking care of the elderly and the poor, protecting jobs and preventing attacks on doctors and other frontline Covid-19 workers. PM Modi offered no immediate economic package but said he felt the pain of “our poor brothers and sisters”, with thousands of families struggling for food and many migrant workers unable to reach their villages. The PM said social distancing and the lockdown had been immensely beneficial in the fight to control the rapid spread of the virus. “Yes, economically, we have paid a great price for it, but from the point of view of saving human lives, it has been a significant step,” he said.