PM Modi under pressure to impose nationwide lockdown, due to rising COVID-19 cases

There is no denying the fact that the COVID-19 situation in India looks grim and with each passing day, pressure is mounting on the Narendra Modi-led government to impose a strict nationwide lockdown. Several medical experts, Supreme Court judges and Opposition leaders have asked the government to implement lockdown as it seems to be the only option with the virus spreading across cities and towns. Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has written a second letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the ongoing COVID-19 situation in the country, saying, "Today the disease is growing explosively. It is currently on the verge of overwhelming all of our systems. "Launching a scathing attack on the Centre, Gandhi said that "Government's failures have made another devastating national lockdown almost inevitable."

A few days ago,  Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot had said that a pan-India shutdown can help in breaking the chain of COVID-19 if planned properly. "The second wave is staring us in the face- Experts and doctors believe that how much ever we prepare we are already facing a shortage of oxygen, medicines and other equipment, soon we may run short of medical staff as well," he stated in a series of tweets. All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Director Dr Randeep Guleria on Tuesday said that a strict lockdown should be imposed in areas where the Covid-19 case positivity rate is over 10% or the bed occupancy is above 60%."There is a need to impose strict regional lockdowns in areas where the Covid-19 case positivity rate is over 10% or the bed occupancy is above 60% to break the chain of transmission. The Covid-19 task force has also been advising for the same," Guleria said.

Earlier this week, a three-member bench of Supreme Court, comprising Justice D Y Chandrachud, Justice L Nageswara Rao and Justice Ravindra Bhat had asked the government to ”consider imposing lockdown to break the chain in the interest of public welfare”.  “We are cognizant of the socio-economic impact of a lockdown, specifically, on the marginalized communities… thus, in case the measure of a lockdown is imposed, arrangements must be made beforehand to cater to the needs of these communities”, the bench directed. India on Saturday registered a record spike in deaths due to the Covid-19 infection, pushing the death toll due to the virus to over 2.38 lakh. India has recorded 4,187 Covid-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, according to the Union health ministry. India also saw a spike of 4,01,078 new Covid-19 cases for the third consecutive day, a slight drop from the past two days. India on Thursday saw 4.12 lakh cases and 4.14 lakh on Friday. The new spike of just over 4 lakh Covid-19 cases has taken the Covid-19 caseload in India to 2,18,92,676. The top five states that have registered the maximum number of Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours are Maharashtra with 54,022 cases, followed by Karnataka with 48,781 cases, Kerala with 38,460 cases, Uttar Pradesh with 27,763 cases and Tamil Nadu with 26,465 cases.