India lights up to mark unity in crisis

NEW DELHI－Twinkling flames from candles and traditional lamps lit up India's night sky on Sunday in a nine-minute show to mark the fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic, which has left the vast nation in lockdown.

Across major cities and towns in the world's second-most populous country of 1.3 billion people, many heeded the call of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to turn off their lights at 9 local time.

Residents shouted "Hail mother India" and "Go corona go". They cheered, clapped, and set off firecrackers and fireworks that shattered the quiet evening, in scenes reminiscent of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights.

"Salute to the light of the lamp which brings auspiciousness, health and prosperity, which destroys negative feelings," Modi tweeted in Sanskrit. He shared photos of himself lighting a "diya" clay lamp.

In a modern touch, some residents turned on the lights from their mobile phones.

Modi on Friday had called on Indians to take part in the event to "defeat the deep darkness of the crisis by spreading the glory of light in all four directions".

India has been under a strict lockdown since March 25, halting public transport and closing offices and shops apart from essential services.

But the shutdown has badly hit rural migrant workers, leaving them jobless with hundreds of thousands trying to return to their villages, many on foot.

Many others have been blocked from returning home. The government has set up tens of thousands of makeshift camps and feeding centers for 7.5 million people.

Meanwhile, the confirmed number of new coronavirus cases in India reached 4,067 with 109 deaths, the federal health ministry said on Monday morning. This is a jump of 26 deaths and an increase of 490 cases since Sunday evening, although experts said wider testing is needed.

The ministry has blamed a recent jump in cases on a large religious gathering in the capital New Delhi in March that has been linked to more than 1,000 infections.

"If the Nizamuddin incident (in Delhi) had not happened, then our case doubling rate which is currently 4.1 would have been 7.4 days," health ministry official Lav Agarwal told reporters on Sunday.

Homemade face covers

The ministry on Saturday also issued an advisory for Indians to use homemade reusable face covers to "help in protecting the community at large".

Besides, the government imposed a ban on the export of malaria treatment drug hydroxychloroquine, removing exemptions such as for fulfilling export obligations that it put in place several days ago.

Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine to treat malaria have shown early promise against the COVID-19 illness in early studies in France and China.

Separately, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Asia, home to roughly 1.9 billion people, climbed close to 7,000 on Sunday. While the figures are relatively low in comparison with the United States, China, Italy and Spain, health experts fear that the spread of the disease in South Asia would overwhelm already weak public health systems in the region.

So far, Pakistan has quarantined 20,000 worshippers and is still searching for tens of thousands more who attended an Islamic gathering in Lahore last month despite the worsening coronavirus pandemic, officials said on Sunday.

Authorities said they wanted to test or quarantine those who congregated at the event held by the Tablighi Jamaat－an Islamic missionary movement－over March 10-12 due to fears that they are now spreading COVID-19 across Pakistan and overseas.

In Bangladesh, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday unveiled a $8.56 billion stimulus package to help the economy overcome the impact of the coronavirus outbreak.

"The amount is equivalent to 2.52 percent of gross domestic product," Hasina said in a televised address.

Agencies - Xinhua