Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the complete exit from the nationwide lockdown is not possible at the current juncture as the nation still reels under the critical state of the Coronavirus outbreak.

The Prime Minister's statement has come amid the fifth episode of the virtual meeting with the Chief Ministers of the States and Union Territories that held on Monday. The episode was seen as the crucial meet between the national and state leaders as it had been convened when the nation has entered the final phase of the 54-day nationwide lockdown. 

According to the reports, the meeting had lasted for nearly six hours with 30 minutes break and it has given the space for every Chief Minister to have the say on the road ahead. During the meet, the Prime Minister said that the nationwide lockdown shall be in place in some form beyond May 17, and pulling out the nation from the lockdown at one shot is not possible. He stated that the Center and the states should work to achieve the twin objectives of reducing the transmission rate of the virus and the resuming the public activities.

The Prime Minister reiterated that the governments must protect the rural areas from having the grounds for COVID-19 spread as most of the rural areas haven't been affected by the pandemic. He instructed the state governments to repatriate the stranded migrant workers to their respective states within the next ten days and all the states must workout to revive the economic activities. 

While speaking about the resumption of train services, Modi highlighted that the resumption was required to lift the economic activity. He further said that the train services on all the national routes will not be resumed and the limited trains would be permitted to function. The reports further stated that the Chief Ministers of Punjab, Telangana, Maharashtra, West Bengal, and Bihar had appealed to the Center to extend the lockdown beyond May 17. 

Besides asking extension, the states like Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Telangana, and Chattisgarh had asked the Center not to resume the train and flight services in their respective territories till May 31st while Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that the nation must cope up to live with the Coronavirus. 

According to the reports, the Center has asked the state governments to disclose and outline their plans for reviving the economic activities in the green zones in their respective states between May 15 and May 17 so that the Central government would consider as their plans would be one of the important players on the fray of the Center towards arriving at the final decision on whether or not the lockdown should get extended beyond May 17. 

Shri @narendramodi will be addressing the nation at 8 PM this evening.

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) May 12, 2020

The Indian Railways had announced that it would resume the passenger train services partially from May 12. At the initial stage, it would operate 15 special trains from New Delhi to the 15 urban cities. According to the Prime Minister's Office, Narendra Modi would be addressing the nation at 8 pm on Tuesday during which he may put forth the roadmap for moving the country forward amid fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

Also read: PM Modi's fifth virtual meeting with the Chief Ministers - What would come up?