A couple in India has named their newbown baby son ‘Lockdown’ in a nod to the coronavirus pandemic.
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The boy was born in Bacheri village in the Sheopur district of central India, on Monday during the country’s 21-day strict lockdown.
When staff asked what name they should write on the birth certificate, the boy’s mother Manju Mail and father Raghunath revealed their unusual choice.
Manju said: “He is Lockdown, as he was born during the lockdown period,” the Times of India reported.
Her husband added: “My son and our family will remember this time of crisis throughout out life. It is a significant name.
“The whole world is using the lockdown as a means to steam this pandemic. We should not take Lockdown lightly.”
The news comes just a week after another Indian couple, from Chhattisgarh, named their newborn twins ‘Corona’ and ‘Covid’.
Parents Preeti and Vinay Verma told the Press Trust of India the names Corona and Covid were chosen to symbolise triumph over hardship.
At the time, mother Preeti said: “The virus is dangerous and life-threatening but its outbreak made people focus on sanitation, hygiene and inculcate other good habits. Thus, we thought about these names.”
There are more than 5,700 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in India and 166 known deaths.
At the time the lockdown was imposed on March 24, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: “To save India, to save its every citizen, you, your family… every street, every neighbourhood is being put under lockdown.”
He imposed measures including the closure of all non-essential businesses, as well as shutting schools and universities and enforcing a ban on nearly all public gatherings.
Hospital and other medical facilities remain open.
