New Delhi: The   Council of Ministers, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and including Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and Nirmala Sitharaman, will resume work at their Ministries tomorrow (Apr.13), a day before the end of the lockdown to contain the spread of the novel Coronavirus, sources said last evening.

Senior officials entitled to official transports — from the rank of Joint Secretary and above — will report in as usual, sources said, adding that a third of all essential staff had to be present. Junior officials will continue to work on rotation basis. Each Ministry has also been told to plan for post-lockdown and come up with ideas to kick-start the economy.

The PM has urged that social distancing protocols be followed.

The move to resume work in Ministries comes nearly a month after the Centre issued work from home protocols and is in line with the Centre’s change in strategy to deal with the COVID-19 crisis — to one that emphasises both protection of lives and the economy.

Earlier on Saturday, the PM indicated a two-week extension to the current lockdown; this was after a four-hour video conference with 13 Chief Ministers to debate the issue.