COVID-19: Will India’s lockdown slow the virus?

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(PHOTO: Reuters)

GUEST: Dr. Shashi Tharoor, Member of India’s Parliament, former Under-Secretary General for Communications at the United Nations, and author.

As the death toll rises from the global COVID-19 pandemic, India, the world’s second most populous nation, is taking measures to survive.

To try and stop the spread of the virus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered a 21-day lockdown of 1.3 billion people. Police in India have been instructed to arrest anyone who disobeys that order.

But India is a diverse nation – that struggles in normal times to manage the needs of its people. With extreme measures needed to fight the virus, questions are being asked:

Can containment guidelines in poor, rural, and remote communities be met? Is the nation’s health system able to handle the crisis? Do certain areas risk starvation? And, are the measures taken by India’s government too little – too late?

To discuss the latest on India’s battle with COVID-19 – we were joined on our television program by Dr. Shashi Tharoor. Among many things, Tharoor is a Member of Parliament in the Indian National Congress, Former Under-Secretary General for Communications at the United Nations, and author of many bestselling books – including his most recent, The Paradoxical Prime Minister.