India extends world’s biggest coronavirus lockdown for two more weeks
- India’s biggest and most economically important cities, including New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Ahmedabad, will remain under strict lockdown
- The shutdown has hit India’s economy, depriving millions of income and stranding rural migrants in cities where they can no longer afford rent or food
The home ministry said in a statement that in view of “significant gains in the Covid-19 situation”, areas with few or no cases would see “considerable relaxations”.
The stringent restrictions have been credited with keeping confirmed cases of coronavirus to a relatively low 35,365 as of Friday, with 1,152 deaths. But some experts have said the vast country of 1.3 billion, home to some of the most congested cities in the world, is not testing enough.
In addition, there are concerns that if the virus catches hold in a big way, India’s poorly funded health care system will be severely stretched.
The government has now divided India into red zones with “significant risk of spread of the infection”; green zones with either zero cases or no confirmed cases in the past 21 days; and those in between as orange.
Red and orange zones will continue to have intensified contact tracing, house-to-house surveillance, and no movement in or out except for medical emergencies and the supply of essential goods and services, the home ministry statement said.