Leading international daily the New York Times says the hasty lockdown in India by Prime Minister Narendra Modi led to an exodus of migrant labourers who could not afford to stay in urban areas and their movement to rural areas spread the virus to every corner of the country.

In an article, the paper writes that the country is still in the first wave of the virus with cases surpassing seven million and more than one hundred thousand deaths reported so far.

The paper quotes experts who fear a worsening of situation leading to large scale food and economic insecurity, anxiety and depression.