NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday said the COVID-19 pandemic affects everyone equally. “COVID-19 does not see race, religion, colour, caste, creed, language or border before striking. Our response and conduct thereafter should attach primacy to unity and brotherhood. We are in this together,” he said in a post on LinkedIn.

His remarks came in the backdrop of a section of right-wing organizations as also of the BJP frequently raking up the issue of Tablighi Jamaat members being responsible for a large number of COVID-19 infections. About 30 percent of the total infections in the country have been attributed to the fallout of a Tablighi meet in New Delhi last month.

The novel coronavirus outbreak has significantly changed the contours of professional life and these days home is the new office and the internet is the new meeting room, he added.

“I have also been adapting to these changes. Most meetings, be it with ministerial colleagues, officials and world leaders, are now via video conferencing,” Modi wrote on LinkedIn. The need of the hour is to think of business and lifestyle models that are easily adaptable.”Doing so would mean that even in a time of crisis, our offices, businesses, and commerce could get moving faster, ensuring loss of life does not occur,” he said.

Today, the world is in pursuit of new business models, he said adding that India, a youthful nation known for its innovative zeal, can take the lead in providing a new work culture. India, with the right blend of the physical and the virtual, can emerge as the global nerve centre of complex modern multinational supply chains in the post-COVID-19 world.

“Let us rise to that occasion and seize this opportunity,” he said.

The workplace is getting “Digital First”, he said.

“And, why not? After all, the most transformational impact of technology often happens in the lives of the poor,” he said.

It is the technology that demolishes bureaucratic hierarchies, eliminates middlemen and accelerates welfare measures, the prime minister opined.