Could PM Modi have avoided the panic-buying situation caused by his speech announcing India’s 21-day lockdown to battle COVID-19?

The key points PM Modi covered in his speech include the 21-day lockdown across India, and the announcement that the Center was setting up a Rs 15,000 crore fund to strengthen healthcare infrastructure and provide more equipment to tackle COVID-19.

He also mentioned that the government had made provisions to ensure the supply of essential commodities in this period.

But barely minutes after the lockdown’s announcement people flooded grocery and ration shops across India, to get what they could before everything shut. So, was the PM’s address to the nation adequate or did it fall woefully short?

Today we’re going to tell you exactly what you can and can’t do during this lockdown, what goods and services will still be available, and what more the PM could have said in his 28-minute speech, announcing the lockdown.

Ankita Sinha, Senior Correspondent, The Quint

Aditya Menon, Political Editor, The Quint

Vakasha Sachdev, Legal Editor, The Quint

Host and Producer: Vishnu Gopinath

Editor: Shelly Walia