The Indian government’s decision to impose a 21-day nationwide lockdown in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic reduces the overall severity of the disease by limiting the spread of the virus. However, the same decision exacerbates the economic slowdown by reducing the labour supply as well as consumption of goods and services. The government needs to address this dichotomy through adopting more efficient measures of containment of coronavirus and launching a series of financial relief packages. Each of these measures, if executed timely and aggressively, will generate spillover benefits on the other.