At PM meeting, Rupani favours gradual lifting of lockdown

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani favoured a gradual lifting of the coronavirus-enforced lockdown during interaction of CMs with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday through video-conferencing, said an official here. Rupani maintained that interests of daily wage labourers, small as well as big shop owners and self-earning people should be kept in mind if the lockdown is extended beyond May 3, he said.

Lockdown needs to be gradually lifted. The state will follow the Centres guidelines and lift the lockdown in a gradual and step by step manner, depending on the number of (COVID-19) cases going down (in different areas), secretary in the Chief Ministers Office, Ashwani Kumar, told reporters, quoting Rupani telling the meeting via video link. Gujarat, with 3,301 novel coronavirus cases and 151 deaths so far, is second only to Maharashtra on both counts in the country.