From midnight on Tuesday 24 March, the whole of India has been placed under total lockdown. An extraordinary measure, not only for its exceptional nature but also for its scale in terms of size. The Asian nation has, in fact, ordered a ban on leaving home for 1.3 billion people. A gigantic challenge from a logistical standpoint as well, with the aim of limiting the spread of coronavirus.

"Forget what it means to leave home — it is the only way we have to protect ourselves"

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the decision on the evening of 24 March, in an address to the nation, specifying that the measure will last at least three weeks. "Every neighbourhood, every alleyway, every village must remain empty," he explained. He asked the population to "forget what it means to leave home. The only way we have to protect ourselves is to remain confined at any cost. A single step outside your homes can bring the coronavirus into your family."

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Roads in India are deserted and police patrol the streets as Prime Minister Modi announces 21-day "complete lockdown" to stop coronavirus spread. abcn.ws/2vPTINw

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The head of the Indian government also announced an exceptional allocation, equivalent to 1.83 billion euros, to support health services. Many, however, believe that the gradual approach chosen by Modi in recent days was excessively cautious, in the face of the slow but inexorable progression of Covid-19 across the immense Asian nation, the second most populous in the world after China.

India has only 0.5 hospital beds per thousand inhabitants

The government's first move in India was to close its borders and halt international commercial flights from nations considered to be at greatest risk. It then attempted a partial swab-testing campaign, which proved fairly effective. But the spread of coronavirus was not halted — with around 500 officially confirmed cases — and so on Sunday 22 March a day-long curfew had already been imposed. A kind of "dress rehearsal" for the lockdown, which nonetheless showed that the population was not particularly inclined to give up going outside.

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“To save India, to save every Indian citizen, to save you.”

1.3 billion Indians are now under lockdown as coronavirus cases rise.

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Moreover, anticipating the decision to confine the entire nation, millions of Indians rushed to storm stations, airports, buses and coaches in an attempt to leave the major cities and return to their home villages. For this reason too, specialists believe that the official coronavirus case figures fall well short of reality. A ticking time bomb, in a nation characterised by enormous population density, vast pockets of poverty, and slums in which overcrowding is essentially unavoidable, all within contexts marked by a lack of water, sanitation and adequate health facilities. Consider that India has 0.5 hospital beds per thousand inhabitants, compared with 3.2 in Italy and nearly 5 at the European average.

India has a young but vulnerable population

Added to this is the fact that in India there are 2.7 million people suffering from tuberculosis, while 6 per cent of the population is diabetic. The only encouraging sign comes from demographic data relating to age: 46 per cent of Indians are under 25, and the fatality rate of coronavirus is considerably lower among younger people.

Yet even for them the problems will not be easy to solve. For the 20 million inhabitants of New Delhi, shopping is almost never done at the few supermarkets that exist, but at small grocery shops dotted throughout the city. Or from street vendors selling fruit and vegetables from carts. It will need to be seen how citizens will be able to buy the food they need, bearing in mind that even large online chains such as Big Basket are no longer operational due to a shortage of stock in their warehouses.