(Newswire.net — March 26, 2020) — India will start the world’s largest quarantine to block the spread of the coronavirus in this country. The isolation will last for 21 days, Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi announced.
Modi warned citizens that they must stay indoors or risk inviting pandemic to their homes.
In order to save India and its residents, there will be a total ban on leaving the house, Modi said in a televised address, Reuters reports.
He stressed that a three-week blockade will be a major blow to the economy, but that the alternative could set back the country for decades.
Modi pledged $ 2 billion to strengthen the country’s health system, calling the order “complete closure.”
The move puts nearly a fifth of the world’s population on lockdown, with Indian health officials reporting 469 active Covid-19 cases and 10 deaths.
In a country where tens of millions of people live in dense urban areas with irregular access to clean water, experts said that the spread of the virus is inevitable.
Bollywood Superstar Amitabh Bachchan joined celebrities who support the measures from their homes. He and his family were seen on their terrace, acknowledging India’s coronavirus warriors.
“NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS ! PROUD TO BE AN INDIAN – JAI HIND,” Bachchan tweeted, using the rallying cry that’s often translated as “Victory to India.”
For weeks, as the coronavirus spread from neighboring China and other parts of Asia, the total number of infected in India was only three. These were students who came from the Chinese epicenter of the Wuhan hotspot and who were treated in their home state and recovered.
In the past week, India has expanded stay-at-home orders, banned international and domestic flights and suspended rail passenger transport.
Key facilities, including hospitals, police, and media, were exempted from the stay-at-home order, and many stores and pharmacies remain open.