Coronavirus COVID-19 does not see religion or caste before striking, says PM Narendra Modi

Urging unity and brotherhood in the battle against coronavirus, PM Modi said that the virus does not see the caste or religion before striking.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday (April 19) that the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic affects everyone equally irrespective of faith, colour or caste. 

"COVID-19 does not see race, religion, colour, caste, creed, language or border before striking. Our response and conduct thereafter should attach primacy to unity and brotherhood. We are in this together,” the official Twitter handle of PMO said in a post today.

"Unlike previous moments in history, when countries or societies faced off against each other, today we are together facing a common challenge. The future will be about togetherness and resilience," PM Modi said.

"The next big ideas from India should find global relevance and application. They should have the ability to drive a positive change not merely for India but for the entire humankind," he said.

"Logistics was previously only seen through the prism of physical infrastructure - roads, warehouses, ports. But logistical experts these days can control global supply chains through the comfort of their own homes," the Prime Minister said.

"India, with the right blend of the physical and the virtual can emerge as the global nerve centre of complex modern multinational supply chains in the post COVID-19 world. Let us rise to that occasion and seize this opportunity. I urge you all to think about this and contribute to the discourse," he said.

The Prime Minister's post comes at a time when a Uttar Pradesh hospital announced through an ad in local newspapers that it would admit Muslim patients only after COVID-19 screening. However, the ad invited a police complaint being filed against it. 

An event hosted by the Muslim sect Tablighi Jamaat in Delhi's Nizamuddin Markaz in March this year became a hotspot after thousands of its members were found infected with the infection. 

The number of coronavirus cases in India has climbed to 16,116, with 519 deaths, according to a Health Ministry data, which added that at least 1,324 cases and 31 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.