A day before India observes a "Janta curfew", Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday urged everyone to stay wherever they are to stop the deadly coronavirus, which has already claime dover 10,000 lives worldwide, from spreading.
In two tweets, the prime minister said that our brothers and sisters, who work in cities, are going back to their villages due the coronavirus outbreak. "Travelling in crowd increassses its chances of spreading. Wherever you are going, it will become a threat to them as well," the prime minister tweeted in Hindi, adding, "this is going to further the problems to your village and family."
In another tweet he wrote: "Stay wherever you are for a few days and that's how We can stop this diseases from spreading."
"We are only causing harm to our health by gathering at railway and bus stations. Please thing about yourself and your families. Don't step out if it's not necessary."
On Sunday, India observing an unprecedented shutdown PM Modi's appeal for a 'Janata curfew', where people have been urged to voluntarily stay indoors to check the spread of coronavirus while public transport will be suspended or curtailed and all markets and shops except those dealing in essential items will be closed on the day.
Cutting across party lines, chief ministers and others leaders urged the people to follow the self-imposed curfew from 7 am to 9 pm, noting that "social distancing" was key to breaking the chain of infection, as the number of coronavirus cases rose to 283 after 60 new cases were detected on Saturday, the highest so far in a day, and states like Maharashtra, Odisha and Bihar imposed partial lockdown till month end.
No passenger train will originate from any railway station in the country from midnight to 10 pm on Sunday while all suburban train services will be reduced to a bare minimum as well. Metro services, including in Delhi, will remain suspended for the day.