Authorities enforced lockdowns across most of India, Nepal, and parts of Pakistan on Tuesday to halt the spread of coronavirus in one of the world's most densely populated regions, as four NATO personnel tested positive in Afghanistan.
Health researchers have warned that more than a million people in India could be infected with the coronavirus by mid-May, prompting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government to shut down all air and train travel, businesses and schools.
Modi was due to address the nation for a second time in a week later on Tuesday on the risks to the country of 1.3 billion people from the virus that emerged in China late last year and has spread to 194 countries.
India has found 482 cases of the coronavirus and nine people have died from the COVID-19 disease it causes but alarm is growing across the region about prospects for its spread into impoverished communities and the ability of resource-starved public health sectors to cope.