File photo of a family watching Prime Minister Narendra Modi announcing a total lockdown across India to contain the coronavirus outbreak on March 24, 2020. (AP Photo)Coronavirus Lockdown in India 2021 Live Updates: Lockdown – The term was imprinted on the collective mental state of India when Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the order for strictest restrictions that anyone had faced anywhere in the world. The 21-day lockdown that came into force from 12:01 am was announced by PM Modi during his 8 pm national address. Giving just four-hour notice, the lockdown declaration sparked an absolute frenzy on the city streets. Within hours, all malls and grocery stores were emptied with people buying everything possible in panic mode. While the urban population was whipping Dalgona coffee, it was the silent, almost-hidden, never-spoken-about migrants that bore the burnt of the lockdown, that caught many in surprise.
While the Centre has often repeated that it has no data on migrants’ deaths, post after post on social media was flooded with gut-wrenching accounts of families walking several hundred kilometres only to die at the border of their village homes out of sheer exhaustion! The long walks back home can’t be written without the mention of Sonu Sood. The Bollywood baddie played a messiah for the migrants as he arranged buses, flights and trains for desperate individuals trying to head back to their green fields.
At that time, India entered into the strictest lockdown that people had ever seen anywhere in the world when the number of cases hovered around 500. A year later, as the nation marks the first anniversary of the first national lockdown, it seems we are living in a time loop. Europe is seeing a new number of cases again, Maharashtra is again the epicentre of Covid infections in India. So what has changed? The key aspect is that we have the power of Covid vaccines. While Western nations are going for Pfizer and Moderna, India is relying on Oxford/AstraZeneca and Bharat Biotech’s Covid jabs to achieve the dream of herd immunity.
India is seeing the second wave of coronavirus with major metros and small towns reporting a high number of cases with each passing day. The higher degree of transmission means that more people are getting infected at a faster rate. So, as you look back at your March 2020 memories, here’s a quick reminder: wash your hands, wear your face mask properly and stay social distanced as much as possible. This is the only way to stay safe.
On the anniversary of the national lockdown 2020, India remembers those who lost their lives and frontline workers who made supreme sacrifices! Here are the latest updates on the coronavirus lockdown and lockdown anniversary from India. We will also be looking at what’s happening in terms of pandemic around the world.