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2020.04.11 20:50 GMT+8

India extends nationwide coronavirus lockdown to April 30, local media says

Updated 2020.04.12 12:20 GMT+8
CGTN

A woman stands on her balcony during a lockdown to slow the spreading of COVID-19 in Ahmedabad, India, April 5, 2020. /Reuters

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided to extend the country's nationwide lockdown to the end of April to tackle the spread of the coronavirus, local media reported. 

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said Modi has "taken (the) correct decision to extend (the) lockdown." The Prime Minister had a video conference call with several state ministers on Saturday before making his decision. 

"If it is stopped now, all gains would be lost. To consolidate, it is imp (important) to extend it," Kejriwal said on Twitter.

The current 21-day lockdown is due to end Tuesday. But with the death toll rising, several chief ministers from India's 29 states and territories have been pressing Modi to prolong restrictions for the 1.3 billion population.  

Two states, Odisha and Punjab, have already extended the lockdown by around two weeks, but critics say a nationwide lockdown is needed to stop people from moving between states and potentially taking the virus with them.  

The number of coronavirus infections in India rose to 8,446 on Sunday, according to Johns Hopkins University, with the capital city New Delhi and financial hub Mumbai fast emerging as hot spots. So far, 288 people have died. 

There are concerns that the restrictions have put millions of poor people out of work and forced an exodus of migrant workers from cities to villages. The government said on Twitter that operations in the marine fishing and aquaculture industry will be exempted from the lockdown restrictions.

A man ties a rope outside his shanty to prevent his children from going outside and to stop people from coming inside his home in Dharavi, Mumbai, India, April 6, 2020. /Reuters

Indian officials have said widespread virus infections could be disastrous in a country where millions live in slums and the health system is already overburdened. 

On Saturday, healthcare workers conducted a door-to-door screening of residents in Mumbai's Dharavi area, India's largest slum cluster. Dharavi, with a population of about one million packed together in an area of 2.1 square kilometers, has reported 28 positive cases of COVID-19, and four people have died. 

(With input from AFP, Reuters)

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