Health researchers have warned that more than a million people in India could be infected with the coronavirus by mid-May, prompting the government to shut down all air and train travel, businesses and schools. On Tuesday, Modi, the powerful leader of the world's biggest democracy went further, saying nobody will be allowed to leave their homes for the next three weeks beginning midnight Tuesday. Already health officials said the virus was spreading out of big Indian cities where it first appeared into the small towns that dot the landscape. China's Wuhan where the virus emerged imposed a two-month lockdown which is only being eased. Across South Asia, home to a quarter of the world's population, authorities are scrambling to raise their defences as the virus spreads.

Source: Dhaka Tribune March 24, 2020 15:20 UTC