India woke up to a sweeping lockdown of its 1.3 billion people, in one of the world's most ambitious efforts to fight the coronavirus, but the order didn't stop crowds of people thronging to stock up at grocery stores and chemists
NEW DELHI/BENGALURU - India woke up on Wednesday to a sweeping lockdown of its 1.3 billion people, one of the world’s most ambitious efforts to fight the coronavirus, but the order didn’t stop crowds of people thronging to stock up at grocery shops and chemists.
As India’s various states shut their borders, long queues of trucks carrying milk, fruits and vegetables snaked down highways. Other countries in South Asia - home to a quarter of the world’s population - are also struggling as they try to put up defences against the coronavirus.Authorities have shut down Sindh province, home to its largest city of Karachi, even though Prime Minister Imran Khan said he was opposed to a full lockdown because the poor would suffer the most.
“Social distancing is the need of the hour,” Home Minister Amit Shah said on Twitter with a picture of the meeting. Last year, he stripped the troubled Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir of its special constitutional status, backing the decision with the detention of scores of politicians and months of communications blackout.
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