Lockdown: What’s next? PM Narendra Modi to meet CMs on Monday in two phases

As a relatively relaxed lockdown 3.0 is also halfway through, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a meeting with all Chief Ministers on Monday to discuss the next stage in the exit from the nationwide lockdown enforced to contain coronavirus outbreak, as well as various issues comprising the economy, officials said.

The meeting will be held in two phases.

The first phase will start at 3 p.m. and go on till 5.30 p.m. Sources say, there will be a break of 30 minutes after that and the meeting will resume at 6 p.m. and is expected to go on till 8 p.m.

"PM Narendra Modi to hold the 5th meeting via video-conference with state Chief Ministers tomorrow (Monday) afternoon at 3 p.m.," PMO India tweeted earlier in the day.

Sources said the focus of the meeting will be on further increasing economic activities and on tackling the pandemic in containment zones as the lockdown 3.0 is to end on May 17.

The announcement comes after Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba chaired a meeting with Chief Secretaries and Health Secretaries of all states/Union Territories to review their status of novel coronavirus or COVID-19 management. As the Chief Secretaries informed Gauba about the situation in their states and also said that while protection is required from COVID, economic activities are also needed to be stepped up in a calibrated manner, the Prime Minister also wants to take stock of the situation in one-on-one discussions with the Chief Ministers.

The meeting is also expected to listen to different states' concerns about feasibility of allowing flights, if at all, with strict social distancing norms.

The lockdown, enforced on March 25, was originally supposed to end on April 14. It was then extended to May 3, and then again to May 17.

According to sources familiar with the matter, there will definitely be more concessions in terms of what's allowed, but that there will likely be no changes in COVID-19 hotspots and containment zones.