Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Ramadan 17, 1445 H
broken clouds
weather
OMAN
23°C / 23°C
EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

India PM plans staggered exit from vast coronavirus lockdown

india
india
minus
plus

NEW DELHI: India will pull out of a three-week lockdown in phases, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday, as officials battle to contain the country’s biggest cluster of coronavirus infections in the capital, New Delhi.


The shutdown, which has brought Asia’s third-largest economy to a shuddering halt, is due to end on April 14.


Modi had ordered India’s 1.3 billion people indoors to avert a massive outbreak of coronavirus infections, but the world’s biggest shutdown has left millions without jobs and forced migrant workers to flee to their villages for food and shelter.


He told state chief ministers that the shutdown had helped limit infections but that the situation remained far from satisfactory around the world and there could be a second wave.


“Prime minister said that it is important to formulate a common exit strategy to ensure staggered re-emergence of the population once lockdown ends,” the government quoted him as saying in a video conference.


India has had 1,965 confirmed infections, of whom 50 have died, low figures by comparison with the United States, China, Italy and Spain.


But the big worry is the emergence of a cluster in Delhi because of a gathering held by a Muslim missionary group last month that has spawned dozens of cases across the country, officials said.


Thousands of people visited the headquarters of the Tablighi Jamaat in a cramped corner of Delhi over several days in March, including delegates from Muslim-majority countries Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh.


Health experts have warned that the death toll could surge across South Asia, home to a fifth of the world’s population and with weak public health systems.


Bangladesh, home to about 160 million people, has extended a lockdown that was initially intended to last 10 days by a week, so it will last till April 11, the Public Administration Ministry said in a statement.


Pharmaceuticals and export-oriented factories such as the garments industry, which account for over 80 percent of overseas shipments, can keep running, the ministry said.


“If the garment factory owners want, they can run their factories following proper health guidelines,” Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said.


Sri Lanka’s central bank asked Sri Lankans overseas to deposit their foreign currency holdings in Sri Lankan banks to help the country tide over the economic pain.


The island nation’s key export earners, including tourism, textiles and garments and worker remittances, have ground to a halt.


Following is data on the spread of the coronavirus in South Asia, according to government figures:


 


SHARE ARTICLE
arrow up
home icon