India Goes Under Total Lock Down Over Coronavirus

From all accounts India is on the verge of a major health crisis due to the dreaded coronavirus pandemic. Initially India looked like they had dodged a bullet with very low amounts of cases compared to the rest of the world.

Things have changed rapidly.  The Covid-19 tally has crossed the 500-mark with the first case coming to the fore from the North East on Tuesday, according to India today.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced a three-week lockdown for all of India. “To save India and every Indian, there will be a total ban on venturing out of your homes,” he said in a national address.

In his second national broadcast in a week on the pandemic raging across much of the world with the number of infections rising in India, Modi made a fervent appeal to the countrymen not to cross the ‘lakshman rekha’ of their homes in the next three weeks, Vox detailed.

India is a nation of 1.33 billion people, only second to china in population. America’s population is 325 million to put this humongous nation into perspective.  It is hard to fathom a nation that large under what is essentially martial law. Ctizens are not allowed even out of their homes, according to media accounts

The Centre and state governments have taken measures to ensure that the supply of all essential items continue smoothly, he said, seeking to allay apprehensions among people about availability of food and other essential provisions, India Today explained.

According to Health Ministry data on Tuesday, the total number of Covid-19 cases in India includes at least 41 foreign nationals. Thirty-six people have been cured/discharged/migrated, it added, Vox reported.