India has begun a 21-day lockdown, effectively ordering a fifth of the world’s population to stay indoors.
The nationwide restriction affects a mammoth 1.3 billion people, and doubles the number around the world under some form of restriction to mobility.
"To save India, to save its every citizen, you, your family… every street, every neighbourhood is being put under lockdown," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a televised address.
All flights have been grounded and train services are suspended across the country.
The lockdown is much larger than the one which shut down China’s Hubei Province impacting 50 million people.
India has only 536 cases of coronavirus and 10 deaths, but with such densely populated cities with poor sanitation, the lockdown is essential to avoid a catastrophe, Modi says.
Residents in major cities like New Delhi and Mumbai rushed to stock up on essentials as only food stores and supermarkets remained open.
As India takes its drastic measures, China is beginning to loosen restrictions in Hubei Province, and will end the lockdown of Wuhan early next month.
