India’s Modi urges citizens to follow lockdown

New Delhi

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged Indians to comply with a nationwide lockdown and social distancing measures yesterday, a day after some of the world’s toughest restrictions were eased slightly while cases of COVID-19 continued to mount.

In a radio address, Modi said the country was in the midst of a “war” and the country’s 1.3 billion citizens should not be misled into believing the spread of the virus had been brought fully under control by more than a month of lockdown. “ We s h o u l d n o t b e trapped into over-confidence and nurse the belief that coronavirus has not reached our city, our village, our streets, our office, and so will not reach them,” Modi said.

“Physical distancing, covering the face with a cover or a mask and washing our hands again and again will be the biggest medicine to fight this disease in the days to come,” Modi said.