Indians scramble for supplies as three-week coronavirus lockdown begins

People buy vegetables at a market after India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for a nationwide lockdown starting midnight to limit the spreading of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in New Delhi, India. [Reuters]

Indians crowded grocery stores and chemists on Wednesday in a struggle for essential items after Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered a total lockdown for three weeks to fight a coronavirus pandemic, one of the toughest such measures worldwide.

India’s tally of 536 cases and 10 deaths is dwarfed by China, Italy and Spain, but Modi and health experts have warned that the nation of 1.3 billion people faces a tidal wave of infections if harsh steps are not taken.