Coronavirus Lockdown: Prime Minister Modi has extended the lockdown to May 3
Approval ratings for Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the global coronavirus pandemic are the highest among 10 world leaders, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tweeted this afternoon, referring to a survey conducted between January 1 and April 14 by Morning Consult, a US-based survey research firm.
"Prime Minister leads India's fight against coronavirus from the front. Consistent high approval ratings for PM Narendra Modi. Nation has confidence in its leadership in an extraordinary situation due a pandemic," Ms Sitharaman claimed in her tweet.
The Finance Minister shared two graphs to back her claim, each of which showed "net approval (approval minus disapproval) among adult residents of each country".
As per the graphs Prime Minister Modi was shown to have an approval rating of 68 points; next were Mexico's Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and the United Kingdom's Boris Johnson.
PM Modi has been criticised by the opposition and civil society activists over his government's handling of the coronavirus outbreak in India, which is now nearing 20,000 cases and has seen 640 people die.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has been leading the criticism, repeatedly calling on the centre to increase testing to identify and isolate coronavirus cases and roll out schemes to support and protect the more vulnerable sections of society.
Last week Mr Gandhi also warned the government to prepare a financial safety net for the Indian economy, which is projected to grow at only 1.9 per cent in 2020.
The Prime Minister and his government have also been criticised over the implementation of a nationwide lockdown to break the chain of transmission of the virus.
During the lockdown harrowing tales have emerged of migrant workers, students and daily labourers left jobless and without money, forced to walk thousands of kilometres home.
The centre responded with a Rs 1.75 lakh crore package last month and fresh relief measures and economic stimulus will be announced soon, the Finance Minister said last week, including help for small businesses owners.
Other world leaders surveyed were Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro, who has dismissed global concern about the COVID-19 pandemic and yesterday participated in an anti-lockdown protest, Australia's Scott Morrison, Canada's Justin Trudeau and Germany's Angela Merkel.
Mr Morrison, Mr Johnson, who has recovered after contracting the COVID-19 virus, Mr Trudeau and Mrs Merkel showed significant gains in public approval over the survey period. Japan leader Shinzo Abe, France's Emmanuel Macron and Donald Trump, who has suspended all legal immigration to the US for at least two months, were the only world leaders with negative approval ratings as on April 14.
The data was based on 447 daily interviews per non-US leader conducted and 7,039 for US President Donald Trump.
Worldwide the coronavirus pandemic, which began in China's Wuhan district in December last year, has infected over 25 lakh people and more than 1.77 lakh deaths have been recorded.
World
67,69,38,430Cases
62,55,71,965Active
4,44,81,893Recovered
68,84,572Deaths
Coronavirus has spread to 200 countries. The total confirmed cases worldwide are 67,69,38,430 and 68,84,572 have died; 62,55,71,965 are active cases and 4,44,81,893 have recovered as on January 9, 2024 at 10:54 am.
India
4,50,19,214 475Cases
3,919 -83Active
4,44,81,893 552Recovered
5,33,402 6Deaths
In India, there are 4,50,19,214 confirmed cases including 5,33,402 deaths. The number of active cases is 3,919 and 4,44,81,893 have recovered as on January 9, 2024 at 8:00 am.
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