India Covid: Opposition calls for full national lockdown

India's main opposition party has called for a full national lockdown, shortly after the country passed more than 20 million COVID-19 infections.

They say there has been a "virtual collapse of health services" and a lockdown is needed to "break the chain".

BBC News reports Prime Minister Narendra Modi is resisting the move due to the economic impact.

India added more than 355,000 cases yesterday down from more than 400,000 daily infections on 30 April.

BBC News reports cases are "slowing down", the government said, but testing numbers have also dipped meaning the true caseload could be far higher.

Rahul Gandhi, a senior Congress leader, said there was no other way to stop the spread of the virus.

Calls for a second national lockdown have also come from business leaders, international health experts and other senior politicians.

The Indian Express reports members of India's Covid-19 taskforce, which advises the central government, are "pushing hard" for a two-week lockdown.

[Source: BBC]