Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on March 24, 2020, the world's largest lockdown of 1.3 billion people would begin at midnight on the same day in an attempt to fight Covid-19. Panic buying erupted in the capital New Delhi almost immediately after the three-week nationwide curfew was announced to slow the spread of the deadly coronavirus that causes the disease. Modi warned that failure to carry out the lockdown could set the nation back 21 years.