On March 19, last year Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that a ‘Janta Curfew’ would be in place on March 22 for 14 hours as India witnessed a surge in the daily cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
Today, India marks the first anniversary of ‘Janta Curfew’ announced by Prime Minister Modi in his address to the nation and it comes at a time when India is in the clutch of the second wave of the pandemic.
PM Modi urged people to observe ‘Janta Curfew’, which translated to People’s Curfew, from 7am to 9pm on March 20, 2020, with the country witnessing a steady increase in its daily new cases of Covid-19 and the countries around the world announcing measures to control the spread of the pandemic. This was a way to prepare the citizens for a lockdown.
In his speech, PM Modi said, “Today, I seek some more cooperation from every citizen. It is Janta Curfew, a curfew for the people and imposed by the people themselves.”
In his address, the Prime Minister also urged people to come out in the balconies of their houses at 5pm and clang utensils for five minutes as a gesture of solidarity with each other and to express gratitude for the frontline warriors. Urging people to stay off the roads for a day, he said that emergency services would not come under the purview of the curfew.
My address to the nation. #IndiaFightsCorona https://t.co/w3nMRwksxJ
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 19, 2020
Earlier this year, the number of daily cases fell below 10,000 while the number of active cases had also started coming down. However, starting late February/early March, the number of daily infections picked up and, on Sunday, the Union ministry of health and family welfare (MoHFW) announced that 43,846 new cases and 197 related fatalities were recorded in the preceding 24 hours. India’s Covid-19 tally currently stands at 11,599,130 including 11,130,288 recovered cases, 309,087 active cases and 159,755 deaths.