COVID-19 India: PM Modi to address the nation at 8 PM tonight as Coronavirus cases cross 70,000, deaths at 2,293.

As the last leg of Lockdown 3.0 begins, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation at 8 pm tonight. The main agenda will be to let people know the strategies to ease the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, post-May 17th. This address comes after having a six-hour conference with Chief Ministers of all states on Monday, where Punjab, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Telangana wanted a further extension of lockdown. Other states, however, wanted more easing of restrictions in the red, orange and green zones. Some states were also against the inter-state travel by road, rail or airways, and Bihar Chief Minister stated starting the rail services was a mistake. PM Modi, at the end of the meeting, said," I want states to make a blueprint on how to deal with various nuances during and after the gradual easing of the lockdown." After almost a month, PM Modi will be addressing the country on Tuesday, 8 PM.

Tamil Nadu saw its highest spike in the number of cases, on Monday, reporting 798 cases thereby leapfrogging Delhi's tally. Cases in India stand at 70,744 with 3596 new infections reported on Monday; death toll rose to 2,293. Tamil Nadu also saw the maximum number of deaths in a single day with six fatalities and cases have rapidly risen after discovering the Koyambedu market cluster, which led to over 2000 cases so far in Chennai. 

In the worst Coronavirus affected state of India, Maharashtra, 1230 new cases were reported, which is almost 700 cases less as compared to Sunday's total.