NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday hinted at the ongoing lockdown to continue beyond the May 3 in worst hit zones or states, while allowing some economic activity to resume in places where the spread has been contained, during his video conference interaction with chief ministers on the issue on Monday.Modi sought detailed feedback from the states to prepare a phased exit plan from the lockdown, on how commercial activities in some sectors could be restarted to recharge the economy."We have to give importance to the economy as well as continue the fight against Covid-19 ,” Modi said at the meeting also attended by home minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh and finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman.At the video conference with all the attending chief ministers, except Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan who had sent his chief secretary, Modi asked each state to come up with an exit plan based on red, orange and green coding of districts according to the number of COVID-19 cases there. But even as districts with few cases could reopen for business, the PM said masks and social distancing — "Do gaz doori (six feet apart)" will have to continue to be a way of life in future.Modi told the chief ministers that the “lockdown had saved thousands of lives in the past one and half months” and assured them that “there is no need to worry on the economy front, our economy is good," when some of the CMs warned that the extension of the lockdown would come at a big cost."We have to give importance to the economy as well as continue the fight against COVID-19," Modi said, while asking the states to make efforts to convert red zones into orange and then into green zones.According to the suggestions that came up, private cars may be allowed with restrictions but the ban on public transport, including trains, flights and buses, is likely to continue. Schools and colleges are likely to stay shut and ban on religious meetings and congregations will also continue.Five of the nine CMs who spoke at Monday’s meeting said the lockdown should end, while the rest were in favour of extending it for the sake of controlling the spread of COVID-19.Among those who favoured continuing the lockdown were Odisha, Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh and Goa. Odisha asked for a month's extension of the restrictions."Green zones will be opened, relaxations in sectors have been agreed to but the mindset of lockdown will continue. We should get people ready with new norms like social distancing," said Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma.While all the chief ministers were present at the meeting, only nine of them got to speak, due to time constraints and the rest gave in written suggestions.These were CMs of Meghalaya, Mizoram, Puducherry, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar, Gujarat and Haryana.