India had one of the world's strictest lockdowns. Why are cases still rising? | Rukmini S

Unable to expand testing or hospital capacity, Narendra Modi's administration has turned to bluster and brute force

The response to the spread of coronavirus that most Indians are talking about this week is not an innovation in contact tracing or a big increase in hospital beds, it's the death of a father and son in judicial custody in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. It happened after the local police picked them up for complaining about having to close their small store early to comply with lockdown rules. In some ways, the case exemplifies India's struggle with its coronavirus response: if you can't beat it with a stick, what do you do?

India now has nearly twice as many cases as the UK, and will surpass Russia to become the world's third worst-affected country after the US and Brazil within days. India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, is no Jair Bolsonaro; since his 24 March address to the country announcing a national lockdown, Modi has been relentlessly on message, and wears a mask and practises physical distancing.