Chief of defence staff and 3 service chiefs to address media at 6 pm, Covid-19 may be in focus
The topic of the press conference was not announced.
Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat will address the press at 6 pm on Friday, along with the three service chiefs, the Hindustan Times reported. Army chief MM Naravane, Navy chief Karambir Singh and Air Force chief Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria will also address the media alongside Rawat.
The topic of the press conference is not known, but it is likely to focus on Covid-19 and the way forward for the services following the end of the nationwide lockdown post May 3, the newspaper said.
The Indian Army said on April 20 that it has decided to classify its personnel returning from leave as “red”, “yellow” and “green” based on their coronavirus status. Eight Covid-19 cases have been found in the Army so far. In the Navy, there have been at least 26 cases.
The Army had last month issued an alert to its personnel warning them against the possibility of their phones being hacked by Pakistani agencies. The malware used to hack these phones is likely to be similar to the government’s Aarogya Setu app, the Army has said according to two unidentified officers.
MM Naravane had said on April 17 that while India is helping other countries fight the coronavirus, Pakistan continues to export terrorism. There had been several ceasefire violations by Pakistan last month.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had last month told India’s top military commanders to ensure that Pakistan is not allowed to exploit the coronavirus pandemic to increase militancy in India.
India had by Friday morning reported 35,043 cases of the coronavirus, including 1,147 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
