India has reported 71.75 lakh coronavirus cases so far. (File)
In view of reopening of economic activities amid the COVID-19 pandemic, an intensive "jan andolan" has been launched to spread awareness among people about precautions against the virus, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said on Tuesday.
During a joint press briefing with the Ministry of Health and Niti Aayog, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting secretary Amit Khare said within its first week of launch, the ''jan andolan'' campaign garnered 2.33 billion impressions and trended on Twitter with the hashtag "Unite2fightCorona".
"I would like to thank the media on behalf of the ministry for its valuable contribution in spreading information about COVID-19 in the country. I do feel and appreciate that the media has been prominent in taking the message of precautionary steps to be taken against COVID-19 throughout the country. It has played a very important role," Mr Khare said.
He said that the winter season and religious and other festivities are approaching and the economy is also opening up, hence, precautions were essential.
"The season of religious and other festivities is approaching. The economy is opening up but while doing so we need to take precautions. We have permitted schools to open up, SOPs for colleges are also coming and from October 15 onwards, even cinema halls will open at many places.
"On one hand economy is opening up and on the other, we need to take precautions. In view of this, we launched a campaign on October 8. We must wear mask, maintain physical distancing and wash hands to maintain hygiene at all times. Let us adjust to this new normal," Mr Khare said.
He said the "jan andolan" will be an intensive campaign in October and November and will continue till March in various forms to reach 90 crore people in the country.
"We are putting up banners and posters at several public places and outside government offices. We will involve frontline workers, including teachers and anganwadi workers etc. Several influencers including actors like Amitabh Bachchan, sportspersons like Saina Nehwal, have shown support," he said.
"Around 500 influencers from various fields Amitabh Bachchan, Shankar Mahadevan, Sania Mirza, Kartik Aaryan, Rajkumar Rao, Anil Kapoor, Divya Dutta, Saina Nehwal have shown support," he said.
Besides them, 30 Union Ministers and 15 Governors and Chief Ministers joined the campaign and spread the message.