Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday addressed the nation and called for 'Janta curfew' on Sunday, March 22, amidst the coronavirus pandemic which has rocked the world, killing 9,388 and infecting 230,051 globally. The success of Janata curfew will prepare us for the challenges to come, said PM Modi.
During Janta curfew, all citizens are expected to stay indoors from 7 am to 9 pm. Modi added that at 5 pm on Sunday, we should stand on our doorways, balconies, in our windows and keep clapping hands and ringing the bells for 5 mins to salute and encourage them. He added that our efforts on March 22, would be a symbol of our self restraint and determination to perform duty in the interest of the country.
Modi also urged the citizens to refrain from hoarding essential food commodities. He said that the government have made sure that there will be no stop of supply of essential items.
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that the world is at war with a hidden enemy. He tweeted: "The world is at war with a hidden enemy. WE WILL WIN!"
French President Emanual Macron, in an address to the nation, said, "We are at war against coronavirus, an invisible enemy." "Even while medics were warning about the gravity of the situation, we saw people get together in the parks, busy markets and restaurants and bars that did not respect the order to close," Macron said. "As if life had not changed," he said, warning such behaviour put the lives of others in danger.
"We are at war. With an enemy who is invisible, but not invincible," Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a state address this week. “Our first priority is non-negotiable: saving lives,” he stressed, which is the reason that Greece imposed, “far earlier than other European countries, measures unprecedented under a time of peace.”
"We will get past these hard days," President Hassan Rouhani on coronavirus. "Great things have been done (including) measures no other country has taken," he said in televised remarks after a weekly meeting of his cabinet.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that “we are in the middle of a global epidemic", but Israel has done well, as it was quick in taking action to prevent the spread of the virus. “We have to understand, we are in the midst of a global epidemic,” Netanyahu said, calling it “the most dangerous of these epidemics in the last 100 years.”
