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The OutbreakMarch 2020Issue the Third

India locks down 1.3 billion people for 21 days

The WHO declares a pandemic as Europe locks down; India orders its 1.3 billion people to stay home for 21 days and migrant workers walk for their villages, while Singapore shuts out visitors and records its first deaths.

A near-empty street in Delhi on the afternoon of the Janata Curfew, 22 March 2020.
A near-empty street in Delhi on the afternoon of the Janata Curfew, 22 March 2020.Photograph by Goutam1962 (Commons user), March 22, 2020 · CC BY-SA 4.0

NEW DELHI, Tuesday 31 March.—India is a week into a complete lockdown of its 1.3 billion people, ordered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for 21 days from midnight on 24 March.

“From 12 midnight today the entire country, please listen carefully, the entire country shall go under complete lockdown,” Mr Modi said in an address to the nation. “If we are not able to manage these 21 days, the country and your family could be set back 21 years.”

Every state, district, village and street is under lockdown, which he called a few levels more stringent than the Janata curfew of Sunday 22 March, when Indians were asked to stay home from 7am to 9pm.

From 12 midnight today the entire country, please listen carefully, the entire country shall go under complete lockdownNarendra Modi

Trains, metros and domestic flights have been suspended. On 26 March Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a Rs 1.70 lakh crore relief package: 5 kg of free wheat or rice and 1 kg of pulses a month for three months for 80 crore poor people.

India has 1,071 confirmed cases and 29 deaths, the WHO reported today. In Kerala a second patient has died. “If there is some lapse we will have to pay a heavy price,” said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

Prime Minister's Office, India, March 24 · The Guardian, March 24 · Prime Minister's Office, India, March 19 · Press Information Bureau, Government of India (Ministry of Home Affairs), March 24 · Press Information Bureau, Government of India (Ministry of Finance), March 26 · World Health Organization, March 31 · Hindustan Times, March 31

With work gone, migrant workers set off home on foot

The PhotographA group of Indian daily wage labourers walk along an expressway hoping to reach their homes, hundreds of kilometres away, as the city comes under lockdown, 26 March 2020.Reuters, March 26, 2020See the photograph →

NEW DELHI, Tuesday 31 March.—With work and public transport gone, migrant labourers have set out to walk from India’s cities to villages hundreds of kilometres away.

Antresh Kumar, 21, left Delhi at 3am on Wednesday to walk about 175 km to Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh. “We have no income anymore,” he said. “All shops are closed. We can’t even buy water if we want.”

On Saturday a sea of workers surged at Delhi’s Anand Vihar bus terminal. “More than Corona, it is a hunger that will kill us,” said one labourer, pushing his family towards his home town of Badayun.

We have no income anymoreAntresh Kumar

Today the Bombay High Court directed Maharashtra to provide labourers with shelter, food, sanitation, clothing and healthcare. “This is apart from the unfathomable hardship the labourers are going through owing to stoppage of their income,” said Justice SB Shukre.

The Indian Express, March 26 · Reuters (via Gulf News), March 27 · Deccan Herald (PTI), March 28 · Hindustan Times, March 31

Singapore shuts out visitors and mourns its first deaths

A FairPrice notice in a Singapore supermarket sets purchase limits per customer on paper products, instant noodles, rice, vegetables, poultry and eggs.
A FairPrice notice in a Singapore supermarket sets purchase limits per customer on paper products, instant noodles, rice, vegetables, poultry and eggs.Photograph by 木靈芝 (Commons user), March 18, 2020 · CC BY-SA 4.0

SINGAPORE, Tuesday 31 March.—Singapore has closed its borders to all short-term visitors, made safe distancing the law and recorded its first deaths from Covid-19, as the virus arrived with residents coming home from abroad.

Since 11.59pm on 23 March no short-term visitor from anywhere in the world may enter or transit through Singapore, and every returning Singaporean and resident must serve a 14-day stay-home notice.

The first two deaths, a 75-year-old Singaporean woman and a 64-year-old Indonesian man who arrived critically ill, were reported on 22 March. “But we must take courage, and not give in to our fears,” said Health Minister Gan Kim Yong.

But we must take courage, and not give in to our fearsGan Kim Yong

Since 27 March, sitting or queuing less than a metre from others has been an offence punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 or six months’ jail. Gatherings outside work and school are limited to 10 people, and bars, cinemas and entertainment venues have closed.

On 26 March Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat unveiled a S$48.4 billion Resilience Budget. “We have the dry powder,” said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Case numbers reached 926 today, with 240 patients recovered, 22 in intensive care and three deaths. A new cluster has been found at the Westlite Toh Guan dormitory.

Ministry of Health, Singapore, March 22 · The Straits Times, March 27 · The Straits Times, March 22 · Ministry of Health, Singapore, March 15 · The Straits Times, March 18 · Ministry of Health, Singapore, March 24 · Mothership.SG, March 26 · The Straits Times, March 27 · Ministry of Health, Singapore, March 31

WHO calls it a pandemic as Europe shuts its doors

A person enjoys one of the first warm days of the year on a balcony during the lockdown in Milan, 19 March 2020.
A person enjoys one of the first warm days of the year on a balcony during the lockdown in Milan, 19 March 2020.Photograph by MLWatts (Commons user), March 19, 2020 · CC BY-SA 4.0

GENEVA, Tuesday 31 March.—“We have therefore made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic,” the WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on 11 March. “Pandemic is not a word to use lightly or carelessly.”

Italy has been under a nationwide lockdown since 10 March, and France has joined Italy and Spain. Britain followed on 23 March. “From this evening I must give the British people a very simple instruction - you must stay at home,” said Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The Tokyo Olympics have been postponed, a first in the modern Games’ history, and will now open on 23 July 2021.

We have therefore made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemicTedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

In Wuhan, where the outbreak began, the first official train to let passengers off since the lockdown has arrived. “Zero reported cases does not equal zero risk,” said Liu Dongru of the Hubei health commission.

The WHO counted 750,890 confirmed cases and 36,405 deaths worldwide today.

World Health Organization, March 11 · Al Jazeera (news agencies), March 10 · The Guardian, March 17 · Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street (GOV.UK), March 23 · Al Jazeera (news agencies), March 24 · The Straits Times, March 30 · The Guardian, March 28 · World Health Organization, March 31

In Brief

India records its first death

KALABURAGI, Friday 13 March.—A 76-year-old man from Kalaburagi in Karnataka has become the first person in India confirmed to have died with Covid-19. He returned on 29 February from a month-long pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia and died on 10 March on the way to hospital.

The Indian Express, March 13, 2020.

SIA to fly half its schedule

SINGAPORE, Tuesday 31 March.—Singapore Airlines will fly only half its scheduled capacity until the end of April. “Make no mistake - we expect the pace of this deterioration to accelerate. The SIA Group must be prepared for a prolonged period of difficulty,” said chief executive Goh Choon Phong.

The Straits Times, March 17, 2020.

Start The Outbreak from issue one tomorrow

Wayback Wire · No. 3 · March 2020