An eerie, unnerving silence met residents of one of the world’s most populous cities this morning as they awoke to a second day of lockdown.
India will begin the world’s largest lockdown, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in a TV address Tuesday night, warning that anyone going outside risked inviting the coronavirus inside their homes, and pledging $2 billion to bolster the country’s beleaguered health care system.
“To save India and every Indian, there will be a total ban on venturing out of your homes,” Modi said, adding that if the country failed to manage the next 21 days, it could be set back by 21 years.
India’s stay-at-home order puts nearly one-fifth of the world’s population under lockdown.
Isolation measures were already in place from Monday in many major cities, but will now be extended to “every village, every district” in the nation, the prime minister said.
Speaking in a televised national address, Mr Modi told Indians to “forget what it feels like to leave your homes”.
It comes as the country starts to ramp up its coronavirus response, with capital Delhi going into full lockdown on Monday along with most major cities across India. All inter-city and long distance trains, which normally carry 23 million people a day, have also been suspended.
Mr Modi said the central government was committing Rs 15,000 crore for strengthening health facilities and acquiring more isolation units and ventilators.
Mr Modi urged state governments, which under India’s federal system have responsibility for healthcare, “that at this time their first priority should be health services and only health services”.