india

Updated: Mar 22, 2020 09:49 IST

Much of the country wore a deserted look Sunday morning as a 14-hour janta curfew kicked in to check the spread of coronavirus following an appeal by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Roads were deserted roads in Delhi, Mumbai, Nagpur, Varanasi, Guwahati, Ludhiana, Prayagraj, Meerut, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Thiruvananthapuram and Srinagar among other places.

Kolkata which recorded three cases since Monday also wore a deserted look.

In Delhi, the Metro rail was shut. Mumbai’s Lokmanya Tilak Terminus wore a deserted look as all passenger and inter-city trains have been cancelled till 10 pm as part of the janta curfew in the fight against coronavirus that has now affected 283 people in the country.

Track coronavirus live coverage here.

In Jalandhar, however, private buses and auto rickshaws continued to ply. But the railway station was deserted.

The Indian Railways had already announced that no passenger trains will originate from any junction in the country from midnight on Saturday to 10.00 pm on Sunday as part of the Janta Curfew.

Ahead of the curfew kicking in, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted asking people to stay indoors.

BJP president J P Nadda said the Janta Curfew is an important step in the big battle against Covid-19.

“Today we need to unite & fight a big battle against #COVID19 infection. ‘Janata Curfew’ is an important step by the people for the health of the people. I request all of you to follow the guidelines given by PM Narendra Modi, regarding #JanataCurfew,” he tweeted.

Srinagar’s Lal Chowk wears a deserted look on Sunday. ( Waseen Andrabi/HT PHOTO )

India is at stage 2 of Sars-CoV-2 virus transmission. The janta curfew is a precautionary measure to prevent coronavirus from spreading to more people and stop the country from slipping into Stage 3 of the pandemic which is community transmission.

The coronavirus outbreak has also put on hold mass prayers and religious rituals.

Also read: Some coronavirus patients may need quarantine longer than 2 weeks: Study

“There is a restriction on a large gathering of people. So, we are organizing the praying session via YouTube so they don’t need to come to the church for the holy mass,” ANI quoted Archbishop of Madras-Mylapore, George Anthony Swamy as saying.