COVID19 DAY 5 (29.3.2020)

People queue up for food at New Kondli, East Delhi (photo: NISHI SHARMA)

As the lockdown entered its fifth day, I began to notice some positives though the worldwide infected figures has is well above the half-million mark. India, luckily has just over 1100 cases. An old lady in Hyderabad is of the opinion that the Americans and Europeans and Americans have been hit harder by the virus than Indians as the latter are a hardier people. But I am not very sure.

 The Prime Minister had exhorted the people to be kind to animals. His advice has been taken seriously and I saw a few young women on the main road feeding the numerous stray dogs. The dogs of course showed their great appreciation of the thoughtfulness by vigorously wagging their tails. They also seemed to be smiling in welcome.

The government too has become wiser than before in treating the citizens. They distributed food packets to the people in the village across the road to people who had been unable to stock up. We were told that the distribution took place in the morning, afternoon and evening.

Nishi Sharma from New Kondli in East Delhi bordering Noida reports that the lockdown is being enforced strictly, with only medicine shops being allowed to open. Other shops can open from seven to ten in the morning and from six to nine in the evening. The Delhi government has made food available for daily wagers and poor people twice a day at a government school. The most to suffer from the lockdown are autorickshaw drivers, vendors, rickshaw pullers and domestic servants.

The big need of the hour seems to be protective equipment for those treating COVID19 patients. The requirement of personal protective equipment (PPE), those space suit like things that we see doctors and health workers wearing (in India only in Kerala) which prevent the transmission of this deadly disease, is estimated to be in lakhs. Millions of masks are also needed but not seen. Not that this is the situation only in India. The United States is also suffering from these shortages. But to add, this kind of protective equipment is required by workers at medical stores as well as municipal workers who collect garbage most urgently as they are equally at risk. Protective clothing is also essential for delivery boys and courier services. Let us learn from China and not the United States!!

This brings me to the ‘China’ angle of the pandemic. Many people are now busy trying to find out whether China is hiding cases of COVID19. Some want to immediately expel China from the United Nations Security Council for its misdemeanours. But I am at a loss to understand how the answer to this question will check the rampage of the disease in Europe or America and now even Asia and Africa.

Sakshi Srivastava reports from Dehra Dun that the lockdown is being implemented pretty strictly in the town. Some construction labour who had wanted to walk back to their homes in the terai district of Lakhimpur Kheri has been persuaded by the police to stay back on the promise that they would be provided with the necessary food. They are now back at the construction site in Prem Nagar.