New Delhi, March 27 : The Congress on Thursday appealed to the party workers across the country to distribute food and medicine kits to the deprived people from the state level to the block level in the wake of the 21-day nationwide lockdown to combat the spread of novel coronavirus (Covid-19). In a letter to all the state Congress unit chiefs, Congress General Secretary K. C. Venugopal said, "As you are aware, the outbreak of Covid-19 has necessitated stringent measures like complete lockdown for containment and management of virus transmission. Following the high chance of community transmission, the Central government and respective state governments have declared total lockdown in the country for 21 days." He said despite the fact that such a strict measure was the need of the hour, the "hasty implementation" without any proper preparatory protocols has created total chaos in terms of logistic movement of essential supplies across the country. The Congress leader said that the lack of proper management on the ground has created hurdles for inter-state movement of essential commodities even via platforms of e-commerce sectors. They are facing challenges in delivering essential items such as rice, wheat, pulses, baby food, milk and dairy products, he said. "The total lockdown will definitely harm the daily wage earners, domestic helps, agricultural labourers and migrant workers," he said, adding, "In this critical time, it is incumbent upon us to ensure the availability of food and medicines to the people who will find difficulties during the lockdown." "In this regard, all state unit chiefs are requested to take urgent measures to distribute food and medicine kits to the deprived people from the state level to the block level on behalf of Congress," he said. Venugopal said that the food kit may include essential items like rice, wheat, pulses, baby foods. The distribution of food kits should adhere to the social distancing protocols as demanded by the health experts. Huge gatherings should be avoided at any cost. His appeal to the party workers comes at a time when the total number of Covid-19 patients in India rose to 677 on Thursday, including 16 deaths. /IANS