Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation at 6.00 pm on October 20. “Will be sharing a message with my fellow citizens at 6 PM this evening,” PM Modi said in a bilingual tweet.
It is unclear as to what the address will be about. This comes on a day India reported around 46,700 new COVID-19 cases – the lowest single-day rise in nearly three months.
India has reported nearly 76 lakh COVID-19 cases, including 1.15 lakh deaths. But more than 67 lakh patients have recovered so far. At its peak in September, India was recording over 90,000 new cases on a daily basis. The highest such single-day rise was of around 97,800 cases (also the highest ever reported anywhere in the world). About 26.2 lakh cases were reported in September alone. But new infections in the country have fallen significantly and consistently since the end of September.
However, experts have warned that not following COVID-related safety measures during the upcoming festive season could lead to a massive surge in novel coronavirus infections.
The announcement about the address was made on the prime minister’s personal Twitter handle, not that of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). The PMO handle, however, did 'retweet' the original post.
Since March, PM Modi has made six such addresses to the nation in which he spoke about various measures being taken to curb the virus' spread and also announced economic and welfare packages.
In his last such address on June 30, PM Modi had announced extension of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) for another five months.
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