In his 12-minute address to the nation on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressed upon the need for people to remain cautious towards coronavirus. He said while the lockdown may have ended, the virus is still around us.
To drive home the message, PM Modi quoted a couplet by Kabir:
“Paki kheti dekhi ke, garam kiya kisan
Ajhun jaunga bahut hai ghar aaven tab jaan”
(A farmer may feel elated seeing his standing crop ripening in the field, but he must know it is not his until the harvest reaches his home.)
Addressing the nation through a televised video message, PM Modi said right from the day of ‘Janata Curfew’ till date, the people of India have covered a long distance in the fight against novel coronavirus.
“Most of us have now started coming out of our homes to shoulder our responsibilities. The business activities are also slowly restarting. The marketplaces are gaining their momentum ahead of the festive season. But we must not become careless now. The lockdown may have ended, but coronavirus is still around,” PM Modi said.
The Prime Minister said India has been able to contain the spread of the virus and the daily cases are on a declining curve. He said it is important that “we don’t let the situation deteriorate” by becoming careless.
“India’s recovery rate is good. Our fatality rate is lower than many countries. There 83 Covid-19 deaths per 10 lakh population in India, while this figure for countries like the US, the UK, Brazil and Europe ismore than 600,” he said.
“India has been able to protect most of its citizens. Today we 90 lakh beds to attend Covid-19 cases. There are 12,000 quarantine centres and nearly 2,000 testing labs. Our total number of tests is set to cross 10 crore soon,” he said.
He however cautioned that while the cases are decreasing and recovery increasing, this is not a time to become careless and believe that the threat from coronavirus is over.
“There are videos that show people have become causal towards coronavirus. This is not good. If you are being careless and moving out without a mask, you are putting yourself and your entire family in grave danger,” he said.
To put across his message, PM Modi quoted a verse from Tulsidas’ Ramcharitmanas:
“Ripu ruj paavak paap, prabhu ahi gani-a na chhot kari
As kahi bibidh bilaap kari laagi rodan karan.”
The verse is from a scene where Lanka king Ravana’s sister, Shurpanakha is crying and warns his brother Ravana, who on her insistence had abducted Lord Ram’s wife Sita from their forest abode.
Shurpanakha warns Ravana saying, never consider an enemy, disease, fire, sin, lord and snake, small and inferior.
Cautioning the people once again, PM Modi said, “Until there is a vaccine against Covid-19, we cannot let our guards down in the fight against this virus.”
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