India enters nationwide lockdown Worst not yet over for Italy
MUMBAI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said yesterday the Government would impose a nationwide lockdown from midnight (local time) for 21 days.
The highly contagious coronavirus had already caused entire regions to be placed on lockdown. In some places soldiers are patrolling the streets to keep consumers and workers indoors, halting services and production and breaking supply chains.
Health researchers have warned that more than a million people in India could be infected with the coronavirus by midMay, prompting the Government to shut down all air and train travel, businesses and schools.
Yesterday, Modi, leader of the world’s biggest democracy, went further, saying nobody would be allowed to leave their homes.
“The only way to save ourselves from coronavirus is if we don’t leave our homes, whatever happens, we stay at home,” Modi said.
Modi’s announcement led to long queues at grocery stores in cities such as New Delhi and Mumbai as customers began panic buying before the ban came into effect.
India’s Government will also soon announce a fiscal package to help the economy face the impact of the coronavirus, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a video conference with reporters yesterday, amid rising concerns about how the nation’s millions of poor will cope with a prolonged economic shutdown.
‘‘The need of the hour is an economic package,’’ said Madhura Swaminathan of the
Indian Statistical Institute in Bengaluru.
‘‘Asking people to stay at home is necessary but that won’t be enough for the majority of the population who can
not afford to sit at home without work and pay.’’
Yesterday, India had so far reported 536 confirmed cases of Covid19 and 11 deaths. — Reuters
ROME: Fatalities in Italy from coronavirus had surged yesterday, the Civil Protection Agency said, dashing hopes the epidemic in the world’s worst hit country was easing after more encouraging numbers in the two days prior.
The death toll rose by 743 yesterday, the second highest daily tally since the outbreak emerged in northern regions on February 21, and up steeply from the 602 recorded the previous day.
Italy has had more fatalities than any other country, latest figures showing that 6820 people have died from the infection in barely a month.
The total number of confirmed cases had reached 69,176 yesterday, but with Italy testing only people with severe symptoms, the head of the Civil Protection Agency said the true number of infected people was probably 10 times higher.
“A ratio of one certified case out of every 10 is credible,” Angelo Borrelli told La Repubblica newspaper, indicating he believed some 700,000 people could have been infected.
The latest data comes as a disappointment to a country that has been in lockdown for two weeks, with schools, bars and restaurants shut and Italians forbidden from leaving their homes for all but essential needs.
On Tuesday, the Government closed all businesses not deemed to be essential to the nation’s supply chain of vital requirements, and after the latest figures Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte stiffened fines for people leaving their homes to up to ¤3000 ($NZ5511).
“Every one of us must play our part,” he said at a news conference held by remote video link.
“If everyone obeys the rules they don’t only protect themselves and their loved ones, but they will enable the whole national community to come out of this emergency.”