As India is just three days ahead of closing its current spell of the nationwide lockdown, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has reached out to the Chief Ministers of States and Union Territories on Thursday to acquire their views on formulating the road ahead for the country on whether or not to extend the lockdown after May 31.

Amit Shah, who was in for Prime Minister Modi for interacting with the Chief Ministers, has dialed to every head of the state governments on Thursday and the Home Minister's interaction with the Chief Ministers has come hours after the Union Cabinet Secretary held a meeting with the municipal commissioners of 13 worst hit COVID19 Indian cities, including Chennai.

According to the reports, Amit Shah has learned the areas of the concern of the states in containing the spread and the sectors they are focusing to lift the ban from June 1st. During the meeting, most of the Chief Ministers had expressed to extend the lockdown in some form after May 31st and to provide some relaxations on the economic activities towards having a gradual exit instead of having a complete pullout.

The Chief Ministers had put out their views, current situation, and the strategies on how to move the states ahead amid the rampant spread of the pandemic. The Home Minister has taken their views which would be reflected in the fresh guidelines the Center would be issuing within the next three days. It's not yet clear whether the Prime Minister would appear for a televised address to the nation on the lockdown extension.

The conversation between Amit Shah and each Chief Ministers had lasted for five to six minutes during which the Home Minister asked the status of the outbreak, economy, and the stranded migrant workers. Such interactions and virtual meets with the Chief Ministers had earlier been chaired by Prime Minister Modi himself with Amit Shah as one of the participants from his government.

This has been the first time the Home Minister has come to the picture to acquire the state of the outbreak and economy from the Chief Ministers. The Center would decide on what's next for what has become the biggest lockdown carried by any nation against the Coronavirus pandemic. The fourth phase would be ending on May 31st and during the tenure, the states and the Center had gradually resumed some of the important services including transportations. 

The Central government has resumed the operations of the civil aviation services from Monday and the Indian Railways would also be resuming the services of 200 passengers trains from June 1st as part of the gradual exit from the lockdown. The nationwide lockdown was initially imposed from March 24 till April 14 to contain the spread of the human to human transmitting virus.

It was extended for the first time from April 15 till May 3 and for the second time from May 4 till May 17 and for the third time from May 18 to May 31. However, despite the extension, the COVID-19 cases have been soaring high as India is in the tenth place in the list of top ten countries with the most number of virus infections. 

According to the Union Health Ministry, India has reported 1,65,799 cases as of Friday morning of which 71,106 have discharged while 4,706 people had succumbed to the virus. The country has recorded 7,466 fresh cases in the past 24 hours which has become the country's highest single-day rise, signaling the complete pullout from the lockdown won't be possible at this juncture.