Covid-19: India responds to PM Modi's 9Minute9PM blackout, people light candles of hope

People could be seen standing on their balconies and verandas with candles, lanterns and diyas (earthen lamps) to show their unity in the fight against the disease.

While some opposition parties like the Congress and many of Modi critics had ridiculed the call of the Prime Minister, people by and large responded spontaneously and many burst firecrackers to pay their tribute to those in the front lines of fight against Covid-19.

From India's health minister Harsh Vardhan and home minister Amit Shah to Bollywood celebrities like Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone, besides countless households across India, responded to the call of Modi.

The initiative is being held at a time when the nation is under 21-day lockdown to combat the infectious disease.

Coronavirus graph of India rose steeply on Sunday as 505 fresh cases and 11 more deaths were reported in the past 24 hours, taking the total cases to 3,577, while casualties reached 83.

In a twist, Delhi became the worst-affected with 503 cases and seven deaths. Till recently, it was rallying behind Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

Joint Secretary in the Union Health Ministry Lav Agarwal, in his daily press briefing, predicted that had the Tablighi Jamaat congregation not happened, the number of COVID-19 cases would have doubled in India in 7.4 days, not 4.1.

The active Coronavirus cases stood at 3,219, while cured or discharged were at 274.

As per the Ministry, more than 1,000 COVID patients are directly or indirectly linked to the religious congregation organised by Tablighi Jamaat ar Markaz Nizamuddin, which has since become a hotspot of Coronavirus infection.

While cases continued to rise, the government again denied that COVID-19 virus was airborne.

As the battle against the spread of COVID-19 continued with lockdowns and curfews, people of the nation geared up to light a candle or lamp or beam a mobile or torch light at 2100 hrs of Sunday, as mark of collective will.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given this solidarity call on Friday, which was critised by the Opposition, who termed it as 'theatric'.

However, later, most of the Opposition parties said they stood with the Prime Minister in this hour of crisis.

Modi called former Presidents Pranab Mukherjee and Pratibha Patil and also spoke to former Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and HD Deve Gowda and discussed in detail the situation arising out of the pandemic, with top leaders of various political parties.

The Prime Minister spoke on the telephone with both former Presidents and former Prime Ministers about this extraordinary crisis and discussed various issues related to the spread of the pandemic in the country.

Modi maintained that nobody was alone in this time of crisis and his government was taking everyone along.

The Prime Minister also spoke to Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi, senior Samajwadi Party leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, Biju Janata Dal chief Naveen Patnaik, Telangana Rashtra Samithi's K Chandrasekhar Rao, DMK's MK Stalin, Parkash Singh Badal of Shiromani Akali Dal and many more.