India’s prime minister decrees 21-day lockdown to curb virus

NEW DELHI (AP) — India will begin the world’s largest lockdown on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in a TV address, warning citizens to stay inside or risk inviting the pandemic into their homes, and pledging $2 billion to bolster the country’s beleaguered health care system.

“To save India and every Indian, there will be a total ban on venturing out,” Modi said Tuesday night, acknowledging that the 21-day lockdown would be a major blow to the economy, but that the alternative could set the country back 21 years.

The move puts nearly one-fifth of the world’s population under lockdown.