COVID-19: Lockdown in India again? Here's what Nirmala Sitharaman said

India's daily new cases continue to rise as 1,61,736 new cases were registered in the last 24 hours. Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Kerala have shown a rise in the COVID daily new cases and they account for 80.80 per cent of the new cases.

Maharashtra has reported the highest daily new cases at 51,751 followed by Uttar Pradesh with 13,604 while Chhattisgarh reported 13,576 new cases. The covid spread has created a worrying situation across the country.

Maharashtra government has already announced lockdown in the state to curb the spread of the virus. With more than 1.5 lakh corona patients being found across the country, there is a possibility of lockdown at the national level. Against this backdrop, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has given indications about the lockdown.

Nirmala Sitharaman said that although the second wave of corona infection was spreading rapidly in the country, the central government had no plans to impose a comprehensive lockdown. We don't want the economy to stagnate completely. So the whole country will not be locked now like last year. Special measures will be taken at local level to control virus spread. Measures will be taken to isolate the families of corona patients. The crisis will be addressed through measures at the local level. However, lockdown will not be imposed.

The Finance Ministry tweeted about the five pillared strategy of test-track-treat-vaccination and COVID-19 appropriate behaviour.

Finance Minister Smt. @nsitharaman shared the measures being taken by India to contain the spread of second wave of pandemic including the five pillared strategy of test-track-treat-vaccination and #COVID19 appropriate behaviour. (3/5) pic.twitter.com/2osJ2jvygh

— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) April 13, 2021