MODI LOCKS COUNTRY DOWN FOR THREE WEEKS

India ordered a 21-day lockdown of its 1.3 billion people on Tuesday to try to protect the world’s second most populous country from the coronavirus spreading around the world.

Health researchers have warned that more than a million people in India could be infected by mid-may, prompting the government to shut down all air and train travel, businesses and schools.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said nobody will be allowed to leave their homes for the next three weeks from midnight on Tuesday.

Scores of people turned up at shops in Delhi and Mumbai to buy essentials before the ban goes into effect. India has found 482 cases of the coronavirus and 10 people have died from it. Health officials said the virus is already spreading out of big cities. Modi acted a day after the WHO called for aggressive action.