Coronavirus: Should government extend lockdown? Here is what India wants

Currently, India is under complete 21-day lockdown as announced by Modi government on March 24. Now, speculations are rife about its extension. According to a poll conducted, as novel coronavirus (COVID-19) cases continue to increase in the country, at least 88 per cent Indians feel that the 21-day nationwide lockdown, scheduled to end on April 14, should be extended further.

The findings showed that 88 per cent of the respondents are refraining to order food online during the lockdown period, according to the survey by news platform Inshorts. The poll which included response from 40,000 app users revealed that 92 per cent of the respondents feel private sector should be allowed testing of COVID-19 in order to augment testing facilities for the respiratory disease.

"Lockdown is the best way to practice social distancing and curb the spread of the coronavirus," said the survey.

Meanwhile, the Odisha government on Thursday decided to extend the lockdown period till April 30 to combat the COVID-19 outbreak. It also decided to keep the educational institutions closed till June 17. Odisha is the first state in the country which extended the lockdown period by another 15 days.

Meanwhile, the death toll due to the novel coronavirus rose to 166 and the number of cases to 5,734 in the country on Thursday, according to the Union Health Ministry.  While the number of active COVID-19 cases is 5,095, as many as 472 people were cured and discharged and one had migrated, it said. As many as 17 new deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours across the country, the ministry said.

Eight deaths were reported from Maharashtra, three from Gujarat, two from Jammu and Kashmir and one each from Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, it said. Maharashtra has reported the most coronavirus deaths at 72, followed by Gujarat at 16, Madhya Pradesh at 13 and Delhi at 9. Punjab and Tamil Nadu have reported eight fatalities each while Telengana has reported seven deaths.

West Bengal and Karnataka have registered five deaths each. Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh have reported four deaths each while Haryana and Rajasthan have recorded three deaths each. Two deaths have been reported from Kerala. Bihar, Himachal Pradesh and Odisha reported one fatality each, according to the health ministry data.