‘Stay indoors & healthy’: India starts 14-hour ‘self-curfew’ to curb coronavirus spread

Source: RT

March 21, 2020 at 22:22

A man walks past a bus stop in Mumbai, India, March 18, 2020 © Reuters / Francis Mascarenhas

As a part of a trial-run to test social isolation to prevent the spread of coronavirus, India has launched a non-mandatory but strongly-advised ‘self-curfew’ that is supposed to last for 14 hours.

“Let us all be a part of this curfew, which will add tremendous strength to the fight against Covid-19 menace,” India’s PM Narendra Modi tweeted minutes before the ‘self-curfew’ went into effect.

The steps we take now will help in the times to come.

In a few minutes from now, the #JantaCurfew commences.

Let us all be a part of this curfew, which will add tremendous strength to the fight against COVID-19 menace. The steps we take now will help in the times to come.

Stay indoors and stay healthy. #IndiaFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/11HJsAWzVf
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 22, 2020

While there will be no penalties for going outside of the house, Indians were advised to stay home to test their own preparedness for isolation and social distancing in case of emergency.

With a relatively low number of 315 infections and only 4 deaths so far, yet taking note of the crises in other states, India is preparing for the worst and testing its healthcare crisis response systems.

“Science still doesn’t have a vaccine for [the coronavirus]. The trend in countries shows it explodes after a few benign weeks,” warned Modi in his address to the nation on Friday, lest Indians be lulled into thinking they are somehow immune to the Covid-19 disease that killed over 13,000 people among some 300,000 infected globally.