Modi Orders 3-Week Total Lockdown for All 1.3 Billion Indians

[bluewater]

Source: New York Times

With four hours’ notice, India’s prime minister announced that no one could leave their homes for 21 days — the most severe step taken anywhere in the war against the coronavirus. India’s prime minister ordered all 1.3 billion people in the country to stay inside their homes for three weeks starting Wednesday — the biggest and most severe action undertaken anywhere to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

“There will be a total ban of coming out of your homes,” the prime minister, Narendra Modi, announced on television Tuesday night, giving Indians less than four hours’ notice before the order took effect at 12:01 a.m.
“Every state, every district, every lane, every village will be under lockdown,” Mr. Modi said.
The breadth and depth of such a challenge is staggering in a country where hundreds of millions of citizens are destitute and countless millions live in packed urban areas with poor sanitation and weak public health care.

Though India’s number of reported coronavirus infections remains relatively low — around 500 — the fear is that, should the virus hit as it has in the United States, Europe or China, the consequences would lead to a disaster far bigger than anywhere else.
...

Without being specific, Mr. Modi said “all the steps to ensure essential commodities will be maintained.”
But Mr. Modi did not make clear how people would get food, water and other necessities during the lockdown, or how they would maintain a safe distance from one another in the cramped spaces many now live. Nor did the prime minister make clear whether exceptions would be made for workers deemed critical to keep the country — the world’s most populous nation after China — functioning.

Mr. Modi acknowledged that his decree would create “a very difficult time for poor people.”

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/24/world/asia/india-coronavirus-lockdown.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

[underpants]

1. Wow. He's right on top of this isn't he?

[DonaldsRump]

2. There are a number of exemptions

Like grocery stores, gas stations, etc. The initial announcement was very extreme, but it's been toned down, AFAIK.

[MarcA]

3. Looks like tulsi's fascist friend is getting ready to hammer down on some

of his less fortunate subjects with this four hour notice decree. Wonder how he and
some other world "leaders" might be planning to deal with their population problem.

[totodeinhere]

4. So you don't think he is justified in ordering this lockdown?

He is implementing what health care professionals in his country are recommending. India has a very low doctor to patient ratio and they don't have nearly enough respirators. If that virus gets a foothold in that country they could be in a world of hurt.

[MarcA]

5. No. Essentially doing nothing then issuing a four hour notice

on a "total ban on coming out of your homes" without any explanation of how
essential services are to be provided and creating a "very difficult time for poor people"
is governing by surprise decree and not by planning or concern. The option of allowing
many to die while doing nothing or ruling by surprise decree is not really an option and
not acceptable in a democratic society.

[Evolve Dammit]

6. He needs to stop, or at least minimize transmission. We are heading there, but have Orange obstacle.

[keithbvadu2]

7. In Pakistan you are turned into a rooster if you leave during the Quarantine

In Pakistan you are turned into a rooster if you leave during the Quarantine. Desperate times require desperate measures.

https://imgur.com/gallery/JXG51JO

https://i.imgur.com/36fLier.mp4