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- India has been experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases for weeks.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi has refused to put a national lockdown in place.
- Dr. Anthony Fauci and others have said a lockdown could prevent the spread of the virus.
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Dr. Anthony Fauci has said that India should impose a national lockdown to address its raging COVID-19 crisis, but the country's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has so far refused to put one in place.
India has seen a surge of COVID-19 cases for weeks. The country reported on Monday that there were 366,161 new infections and 3,754 deaths over the last 24 hours, according to Reuters. The surge has caused some hospitals to run out of oxygen, and crematoriums have been overwhelmed with bodies.
Fauci told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday that a national lockdown could help "break the chain of transmission" of COVID-19.
He told CNN affiliate News18 on Friday that the lockdown would only have to be in place for four weeks or so.
"As soon as the cases start coming down and you vaccinate more people, then you can get ahead of the trajectory of the outbreak," he said.
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has also called for a national lockdown, Reuters reported.
But despite the calls from Fauci and others, Modi has shown no sign of establishing a national lockdown amid the spike in cases.
There are lockdowns in several of India's 28 states, but they don't compare to last year's strict, two-month national lockdown, which, according to the Associated Press, caused the country's economy to decline by 23%.
Modi's government has said it's doing all it can in a "once-in-a-lifetime crisis," AP reported.