NEW DELHI/MUMBAI - India's Maharashtra state, the country's largest regional economy, will allow a limited number of sectors to resume business on Monday , after a weeks-long shutdown to slow the spread of coronavirus left millions out of work.
"We need to start the economic wheels again. We are giving selective permissions from tomorrow, especially in orange zones and green zones," he said, referring to areas with lower levels of infection. Thousands of migrant workers fled the big cities for their homes in the countryside, unable to pay for rent or food after the shutdown went into force.
There are fears that South Asia, home to a fifth of the world's population, could become a major new front in the global war against Covid-19. A big outbreak would overwhelm poorly funded health systems across the region.