Coronavirus: 1.3 billion people confined to India for three weeks

Text by: RFI Follow

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday ordered a total containment of India, a giant of 1.3 billion people, for three weeks to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

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" Starting at midnight today, the whole country will enter containment. To save India, to save every citizen, you, your family, ”said the head of Indian government in a televised address to the nation. " If these 21 days are not respected, the country and your family will go back 21 years, " said the Hindu nationalist leader.

As soon as these words were spoken, Indians across the country panicked to food stores to stock up on supplies. The Prime Minister called on his fellow citizens to respect social distancing and to stay at home. " There is no other way to escape from the coronavirus, " he warned, as rumors of alleged preventive treatments are spreading on Indian social networks.

" Remember that even a single step outside your home can bring serious coronavirus disease back to your home, " he warned. After gradually cutting itself off from the rest of the world since the beginning of the month, India has erected barriers in recent days between its different states to prevent the virus from spreading through displacement.

"This confinement will have an economic cost for the country"

Individually, many regions of the giant in South Asia had announced since this weekend containment measures, including the capital New Delhi. Almost all means of public transport are suspended and many borders between states sealed, leaving millions of migrant workers helpless.

The gigantic Indian rail network, the backbone of the public transport network, is also stopped, as are inter-regional buses. Domestic and international flights are prohibited. " There is no doubt that this confinement will have an economic cost for the country, but saving the lives of every Indian is the first priority for me, " said Narendra Modi.

India has 519 confirmed cases of coronavirus, which has already caused the death of 10 people, according to the latest official report Tuesday evening. Experts estimate that this number is greatly underestimated due to the small number of tests carried out in the second most populous nation on the planet.

(With Afp)

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• Coronavirus
• India
• Narendra Damodardas Modi