With the Coronavirus outbreak continuing, former Union Minister P Chidambaram today demanded that the Modi government should announce a lockdown of the whole country. There should be no hesitation in ordering an immediate lockdown of all our towns and cities for 2-4 weeks, the senior Congressman said on Thursday.

Saying that India should learn from the tragic experience of countries like Italy, Iran and Spain, PC asked, "Why is the government refusing to take the logical step of a lockdown? Some States that are ahead of the central government should go ahead and lock down their towns and cities."

"Since ICMR’s random sample testing has revealed that there is no community transmission (Stage 3) so far, this is the moment to announce a temporary lockdown and contain the disease at Stage 2," PC added.