Noting that COVID-19 has been an extraordinary challenge to humankind, President Ram Nath Kovind said on Tuesday that tackling the pandemic was bound to be more difficult in India due to high population density and limitation of resources in a developing economy but people have "shown an unmatched resolve" against the coronavirus.

In his address on the eve of 73rd Republic Day, the President said the world has never been in so much need of help as now. He said it has been over two years now and humankind is still battling with the coronavirus, hundreds of thousands of lives have been lost and the world economy has been reeling under the impact. The President said the world has suffered from unprecedented misery, and surge after surge of new variants have been posing new crises.