TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ Calling for “resolve and restraint” to fight coronavirus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday asked the entire country to observe ‘Janta curfew’ on Sunday. In a nearly 30-minute national broadcast, he asked people to stay indoors and work from home as much as possible while underscoring the dangers of coronavirus, saying the world has never seen a crisis as grave as this.
“Even World War I and II did not affect as many countries as coronavirus has done,” Modi said, asking people to avoid this mindset that the disease will not affect India much when it has hit hard many developed countries. Amid incidents of people resorting to hoarding food items in panic, Modi said “panic-buying” must be avoided and essential things, including medicines, should not be hoarded, adding his government is working to ensure their supply.
He called for ‘Janta curfew’ on March 22 from 7 am-9 pm, saying no citizen, barring those in essential services, should get out of their house, and asserted that it will be a litmus test to show how much India is ready to take on the challenge of the coronavirus pandemic. This experience will serve the nation well, he added.
