COVID-19 cases cross 600

Anxious people made a beeline for grocery stores on Wednesday as the 21-day national lockdown kicked in from midnight shortly after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced this unprecedented measure as the only way out to break the coronavirus transmission chain. According to the latest Union Health ministry update, the number of coronavirus cases in India rose to 606, including 10 deaths and 42 who have recovered. In a nationwide broadcast on Tuesday night, PM Modi asserted in an emotional appeal "with folded hands" that unless India's 130 crore people practice social distancing, the country will lose the war against coronavirus outbreak and slide back 21 years.