APExplains: India's prime minister has extended the world’s largest coronavirus lockdown, ordering the country's 1.3 billion people to continue to largely stay inside until May 3. Experts say officials were too slow to react to the pandemic.
A man in Hyderabad, India watches on his mobile phone Prime Minister Narendra Modi address the nation in a televised speech about COVID-19 situation, Tuesday, April 14, 2020. Modi has extended the world’s largest coronavirus lockdown hoping to head off the epidemic's peak as officials race to make up for lost time.
India has a long history of battling infectious disease, from a 19th century malaria epidemic to the Nipah virus outbreak in 2018. But experts have said these experiences — and the monthslong head start India had while neighboring China contended with the coronavirus — were squandered. A day after India’s first detected case, the government banned the export of personal protective equipment. Then, on Feb. 8, it reversed the order and on Feb. 25, it also lifted restrictions on the export of raw materials for PPEs. The WHO in late February predicted shortages. But Indian health ministry joint secretary Lav Aggarwal said in March that India hadn’t received the advisory.
Initially India had some of the world’s most stringent testing criteria and used only about a third of its testing capacity. In recent weeks it has expanded its criteria from patients with an association with international travel to all those with severe acute respiratory illness. The ICMR refused to comment on the reported diversion, but said that it has enough kits to last six weeks -- provided that India continues to test at the same rate.When Modi announced a near-total lockdown on March 24, India’s 1.3 billion people had just four hours before most of the economy came to a halt. He promised essentials including food and medicine would be provided, but didn’t say how or when.
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