Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Friday issued a statement saying he has written a letter urging the Centre to extend the ongoing lockdown by two more weeks from May 18. The nationwide lockdown, which began on March 25, is in its third phase at present, and is scheduled to come to an end on May 17.

Mr. Sonowal addressed a media briefing and said that all states were required to give feedback regarding the lockdown extension by Friday with the Assam government conveying its stance to the Centre. He said, "We appealed to the Centre to extend the lockdown by two more weeks. We have already sent our detailed views on this." Mr. Sonowal also delved on the relaxations the state wants in the fourth phase of the lockdown. He stated, "Let the Government of India take a view on that. I don't want to say much about this now. All the states have written to the Centre, which will take a decision on the extension,".

Praising the efforts that have gone behind the implementation of the lockdown across the nation in order to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus, Assam's Chief Minister spoke about the challenges that have been posed by the pandemic, which he states will likely increase in the days ahead, but went on to assure that there is no need for any panic. "It will be a Himalayan challenge for us. The only thing that I request the public to do is to follow the norm of social distancing. We will have to face this patiently. COVID-19 is an exceptional, unprecedented challenge," he added.