Bhopal, Apr 20 (PTI) Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not imposing lockdown in the country amid a severe surge in coronavirus cases.

In an address to the nation, the PM said a lockdown should be the "last resort" to deal with the raging pandemic.

"Keeping in mind public interest, Modiji has decided to not impose total lockdown in the country and I express my heartfelt gratitude towards him for this decision. The people of the country have total faith in his leadership and I am assured they will show restraint to avoid a situation of total lockdown," Chouhan tweeted.

Chouhan said the focus would be on creating micro- containment zones "as it will not affect the economy and will not cause trouble to the people".

In his address, PM Modi had said, "In the current situation, we need to save our country from a lockdown. I would also request states to use the lockdown as the last resort. We have to do our best to avoid a lockdown and our focus should rather be on micro containment zones."

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)