The United States could become the global epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organisation said, as India announced a full 24-hour, nationwide lockdown in the world’s second-most populous country.

India joined the ranks of Britain and other countries clamping down to hold back the virus as business activity collapsed from Japan to the United States at a record pace in March.

“The global health crisis is rapidly morphing into a global recession, as there is a clear tension between preventing infections and ruining the economy,” Reuters quoted Edoardo Campanella, an economist at UniCredit Bank in Milan as saying.

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