India extends coronavirus lockdown until May 3

By Cheena Kapoor

NEW DELHI (AA) - In a live televised address early on Tuesday morning, India's prime minister extended the nationwide lockdown until May 3 to contain novel coronavirus pandemic.

Narendra Modi assured that in the second phase of the lockdown, certain services would be relaxed somewhat in certain areas.

"We have taken strict measures since the start. We had started our screening process, even before the first case was reported and had announced a 21-day countrywide lockdown before the country touched a 500 cases mark. The nation did not wait for the problem to grow big before taking measures," said Modi.

He also emphasized that the interests of migrant workers and the poor would be kept in mind this time. He said the government was assisting in seasonal crop harvests which were delayed due to lockdown.

Despite the lockdown, India is seeing a surge in cases. The country crossed the 10,000 mark on Monday. According to data compiled by the U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University, India has so far reported 10,453 COVID-19 cases and 358 deaths.