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Coronavirus pandemic
AsiaSouth Asia

India hits 20 million coronavirus cases as pressure mounts on Modi to declare national lockdown

  • Indian prime minister previously said states should consider lockdowns ‘as the last option’ but it may be the only way to stem the death toll
  • The debate has been complicated by Modi’s decision last year to impose a nationwide lockdown, which led to a humanitarian crisis

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Patients with coronavirus in the emergency ward of a New Delhi hospital. Photo: TNS
Bloomberg
India’s total Covid-19 caseload soared past 20 million on Tuesday, official data showed as the pandemic continued to wreak havoc in the country’s hospitals.
In the past 24 hours, India added 357,229 cases, taking the total to 20.3 million, according to the health ministry. Deaths rose 3,449 to 222,408. Many experts suspect the true number is much higher.
Two weeks ago, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on states to only consider lockdowns “as the last option”. Now everyone from his political allies to top business leaders and US President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser see them as the only way to stem the world’s worst virus outbreak.

The debate has been complicated by Modi’s move last year to impose a nationwide lockdown without warning, spurring a humanitarian crisis as migrant workers fled on foot to rural areas.

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While Modi is keen to avoid that criticism again, particularly after his Bharatiya Janata Party failed to win an election in West Bengal when votes were counted Sunday, even states run by his party are ignoring his advice.

“One of the problems is this false narrative that it’s either a full lockdown, which equates to economic disaster, or no lockdown, which is a public health disaster,” said Catherine Blish, an infectious disease specialist and global health expert at Stanford Medicine in California.

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