- A billion and some in India have retreated into their shell after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a 21-day nationwide lockdown, beginning Tuesday midnight, to stop the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus. “A Lakshman rekha has to be drawn around our homes,” he said. India has recorded over 510 Covid-19 infections, including 10 deaths — the latest a 65-year-old in Mumbai. Kerala recorded 14 new cases to take the total to 105, the most in India.
- The announcement comes a day after the PM said the citizenry was not respecting the near one-week lockdown that was put in place in as many as 82 districts on Sunday. The earlier announcement had set off many, mostly migrant workers, on a desperate search to find a way back to their hometown, squeezing into crowded buses and trains that were still running, defeating the purpose of social distancing. “My request to you all is, stay put wherever you are,” Modi said in a televised address. “If we are not able to manage these 21 days, the country and your family will be pushed back 21 years.”
- The three weeks of lockdown was essential to break the chain of transmission, Modi said, citing the latest warning by the World Health Organization (WHO). The world body said early on Tuesday that the pandemic was accelerating. While it took 67 days to record the first 100,000 Covid-19 cases around the world, it took only 11 days for the second, and just 4 days for the third 100,000 cases, WHO said.
- Offices of the Union and state governments, public corporations, commercial, industrial and private establishments, all modes of transport will also be shut. Hospitals, nursing homes, essential commodities such as groceries and medicine and their distribution, the public distribution system, banks, defence, police and disaster management, media, and telecommunication are exempt from the lockdown (full list here). “There is no need to panic,” Modi said, adding, “by converging around shops, you are risking the spread of Covid-19”. The PM also announced Rs 15,000 crore to fund the procurement of Covid-19 test kits, ventilators, isolation beds and other essential medical supplies.
- The law: The union home ministry said (guidelines here) violators will be charged under provisions Section 51 to 60 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, besides Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code.
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