Coronavirus: Modi apologises for lockdown in India, as millions of migrant workers struggle

The Covid-19 lockdown order is designed to keep India’s 1.3 billion people at home

But thousands have been forced to flee their homes and millions of informal and migrant workers are out of work

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Migrant workers try to board a crowded bus as they return to their villages, during a 21-day nationwide lockdown to limit the spreading of Covid-19, in Ghaziabad, on the outskirts of New Delhi, India. Photo: Reuters

Published: 9:19pm, 29 Mar 2020Updated: 11:53pm, 7 Apr 2020

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi apologised to the public on Sunday for imposing a three-week national lockdown, calling it harsh but “needed to win” the battle against the coronavirus pandemic.

“I apologise for taking these harsh steps that have caused difficulties in your lives, especially the poor people,” Modi said in his monthly address, broadcast by state radio. “I know some of you will be angry with me. But these tough measures were needed to win this battle.”

The unprecedented lockdown order, which came into effect on Wednesday to keep India’s 1.3 billion people at home for all but essential trips to places like markets or pharmacies, is meant to prevent the spread of the virus from surging and overwhelming India’s already strained health care system.

Migrant workers board a truck to return to their villages during a 21-day nationwide lockdown to limit the spreading of Covid-19, in Ahmedabad, India. Photo: Reuters

Indian health officials have confirmed 867 cases of the coronavirus, including 25 deaths. Experts have said local spreading is inevitable in a country where tens of millions of people live in dense urban areas in cramped conditions with irregular access to clean water.

The lockdown has caused tens of thousands of people, mostly young male day labourers but also families, to flee their New Delhi homes, and has effectively put millions of Indians who live off daily earnings out of work.

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