This Article is From Apr 19, 2020

"COVID-19 Does Not See Race, Religion, Caste Before Striking": PM Modi

Coronavirus: "The next big ideas from India should find global relevance and application," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a post on LinkedIn

Coronavirus: "The future will be about togetherness and resilience," PM Narendra Modi said

Highlights

  • "The future will be about togetherness and resilience": PM Modi
  • Economic activity re-starting in non-containment zones after April 20
  • Coronavirus cases in India reached over 16,000, with 519 deaths
New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the COVID-19 pandemic affects everyone equally. "COVID-19 does not see race, religion, colour, caste, creed, language or border before striking. Our response and conduct thereafter should attach primacy to unity and brotherhood. We are in this together," PM Modi said in a post on LinkedIn.

"Unlike previous moments in history, when countries or societies faced off against each other, today we are together facing a common challenge. The future will be about togetherness and resilience," PM Modi said.

"The next big ideas from India should find global relevance and application. They should have the ability to drive a positive change not merely for India but for the entire humankind," he said.

"Logistics was previously only seen through the prism of physical infrastructure - roads, warehouses, ports. But logistical experts these days can control global supply chains through the comfort of their own homes," the Prime Minister said.

"India, with the right blend of the physical and the virtual can emerge as the global nerve centre of complex modern multinational supply chains in the post COVID-19 world. Let us rise to that occasion and seize this opportunity. I urge you all to think about this and contribute to the discourse," he said.

The Prime Minister's post comes on a day when a police case has been filed against a hospital in Uttar Pradesh after it placed an ad in local papers that it would admit Muslim patients only after COVID-19 screening.

An event hosted by the Muslim sect Tablighi Jamaat in Delhi's Nizamuddin had become a hotspot after thousands of its members were found infected with COVID-19. A Muslim group later approached the Supreme Court, seeking to stop sections of the media from allegedly giving a communal colour to reportage on COVID-19 cases linked to the event held in Nizamuddin.

The number of coronavirus cases in India has climbed to 16,116, which includes 519 deaths, the Health Ministry said on Sunday, adding that 1,324 cases and 31 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.

On Saturday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh chaired a meeting of a Group of Ministers (GoM) at his residence to and discussed re-starting economic activity in non-containment zones after April 20, in line with announcements made by PM Modi earlier this week.

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