On Wednesday, the world's second most populous country was quarantined. This means that about a quarter of the world's population now lives under some kind of quarantine as a result of the corona eruption.
India has so far reported just over 600 coronary cases and ten deaths due to the virus.
- There is certainly a huge dark figure, says SVT's India correspondent Malin Mendel.
"Every day is a struggle"She sees some dangers in shutting down the country, not least given the country's economic gaps.
- I know that many are very worried about their finances. Many people work for daily wages and never know what they have for jobs the next day, every day is a struggle. If they are not allowed to come out and work, there will also be no food on the table. There are no margins.
Malin Mendel thinks it is too early to say what the new restrictions will have on the consequences.
- But in the worst case scenario, there can be chaos if people are panicked, there is not the same trust for authorities in India as in Sweden, for example. There is a lot of corruption and many do not trust that the state wants everyone's best.
"Living extremely tight"At the same time, there is reason for the authorities to do what they can to try to stop the corona virus spread, according to Malin Mendel.
- Take Bombay where there are over 20 million people in a single city. About half of them live extremely close to what we would describe as slums. Many families only have one room where they sleep on the floor, there is nowhere to take the road to cough or keep a distance, she says.
- The authorities know that it will be very difficult to stop the virus if it gets stuck in the country.