Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Friday said the state has written to the Centre urging it to extend the ongoing lockdown by two more weeks from May 18.
The third phase of the coronavirus-induced nationwide lockdown, which got under way on March 25, is scheduled to end on May 17.
Addressing a press conference here, Mr Sonowal said all states were supposed to give their feedback on the extension of the lockdown by Friday, and the Assam government has already conveyed its stand to the Centre.
"We appealed to the Centre to extend the lockdown by two more weeks. We have already sent our detailed views on this," he added.
The state has also conveyed its views on the relaxations it wants in the fourth phase of the lockdown, Mr Sonowal said.
"Let the Government of India take a view on that. I don't want to say much about this now. All the states have written to the Centre, which will take a decision on the extension," he said.
The chief minister lauded the measures, including the lockdown, initiated by the Centre to stem the spread of the disease.
Mr Sonowal said the challenges posed by the pandemic will, in all likelihood, increase in the coming days, but insisted there was no need to panic.
"It will be a Himalayan challenge for us. The only thing that I request the public to do is to follow the norm of social distancing. We will have to face this patiently. COVID-19 is an exceptional, unprecedented challenge," he added.
The chief minister said that during the ongoing lockdown, the state machinery has provided ration to around 44 lakh people, who are not the targeted beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act (NFSA).
"Many NGOs and individuals have come forward to help the poor people in this crisis. We are grateful to them," he said.
Mr Sonowal also expressed his gratitude to all frontline workers, including doctors, nurses and other medical staff, besides people from essential services such as police and media for their "immense contribution" to saving lives.
World
Coronavirus has spread to 188 countries. The total confirmed cases worldwide are 44,44,537 and 3,02,493 have died; 25,53,243 are active cases and 15,88,801 have recovered as on May 15, 2020 at 6:42 pm.
India
In India, there are 81,970 confirmed cases including 2,649 deaths. The number of active cases is 51,401 and 27,920 have recovered as on May 15, 2020 at 8:00 am.
State & District Details
State Cases Active Recovered Deaths Maharashtra27524
20446
6059
1019
Tamil Nadu9674
7368
2240
66
Gujarat9591
5252
3753
586
Delhi8470
5310
3045
115
Rajasthan4534
1829
2580
125
Madhya Pradesh4426
2018
2171
237
Uttar Pradesh3902
1742
2072
88
West Bengal2377
1394
768
215
Andhra Pradesh2205
965
1192
48
Punjab1935
1680
223
32
Telangana1414
430
950
34
Bihar994
576
411
7
Karnataka987
492
460
35
Jammu And Kashmir983
487
485
11
Haryana818
368
439
11
Odisha611
450
158
3
Kerala560
65
491
4
Jharkhand197
107
87
3
Chandigarh191
151
37
3
Tripura156
127
29
0
Assam87
46
39
2
Uttarakhand78
27
50
1
Himachal Pradesh74
33
39
2
Chhattisgarh60
4
56
0
Ladakh43
21
22
0
Andaman And Nicobar Islands33
0
33
0
Goa14
7
7
0
Puducherry13
3
9
1
Meghalaya13
1
11
1
Manipur3
1
2
0
Mizoram1
0
1
0
Arunachal Pradesh1
0
1
0
Dadar Nagar Haveli1
1
0
0
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