India’s prime minister decrees 21-day lockdown to curb virus

EMILY SCHMALL and SHEIKH SAALIQ Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — India will begin the world's largest lockdown on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in a TV address, warning citizens to stay inside or risk inviting the pandemic into their homes, and pledging $2 billion to bolster the country's beleaguered health care system. "To save India and every Indian, there will be a total ban on venturing out," Modi said Tuesday night, acknowledging that the 21-day lockdown would be a major blow to the economy, but insisting that the alternative could set the country back 21 years. The move puts nearly one-fifth of the world's population under lockdown. The announcement set off panic in many neighborhoods as people rushed to markets to stock up on supplies. At many places, po