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If lockdown lifts on 31st May, Covid-19 cases might increase.
The containment of coronavirus has spread over the past few months, public welfare has been questioned since then. Though the government has made attempts to provide for the medical assistance to Covid-19 patients, the cases continue to increase in number. The death toll has become three-thousand per day. Since lockdown fourth has allowed many shops to remain opened and function, the risk associated with the spread of coronavirus increases. In such a grim situation, what if the lockdown lifts on 31st May? Would people follow the norms provided by the government? The rules laid out to protect against the virus remains very simple and straightforward, cover your face with a mask, don’t touch surfaces like the knob of a door, clean your hands and practice social distancing and physical distancing. The rules may look very simple to protect oneself from this fatal disease but the implementation is interrogated when one thinks about routine people used to follow.
Would ‘social distancing’ or ‘physical distancing’ be followed?
India has a population of approximately 135.26 crores (recorded in 2018), when the organizations, schools, colleges, government functions, the interaction level on the ground of physical proximity becomes comparatively less. Also, as the railways which have been previously started, some of the passengers complain that the norm of ‘social distancing’ was not followed despite instructing repeatedly. As the shops are reopened in many places, customers are observed to practice social distancing due to sufficient space but what happens when the market such as Chandni Chowk, Khan Market, Azad Market, Sadar Bazar where space remains less? In such cases, these places may offer a center for the spread of deadly disease coronavirus.
What if public transport operates?
During the fourth lockdown, auto-rickshaws, rickshaws, cars, and scooters are allowed. These means of transport might not be affordable by a few sections of society. If the lockdown lifts, there would be many employees and people who would prefer public transport over other means of transport due to reasons of affordability or saving-time or both But public transport offers the very little possibility of practicing ‘social distancing’ and ‘physical distancing’. The densely populated cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, needs a strong assurance and reassurance of effective functioning of these public transport. Thus, even if the social distancing would be practiced in public transport like Metro, then, it would be only accessed by a handful of people due to insufficient space.
What about workers coming from slums?
Slums are the places where the distancing becomes extremely difficult due to the least proximity among the houses. Workers from these slums obtain facilities from public space such as drinking water, using common washrooms if the lockdown lifts the chances of spreading coronavirus might increase. Even though the process of sanitization might take place at their workplaces but due to the highly mysterious nature of this disease, it might not even surface at the initial level.
Though the lockdown might lift at a gradual pace, the chances of the spread of coronavirus would increase as the research of such fatal disease still remains a mystery to many nations. In such cases, certain medical experts who are examining the patients of Covid-19 expresses concerns regarding the reopening.
A notable epidemiologist has also commented that the cases of Covid-19 might peak in mid-July if the lockdown reopens on 31st May. This remains the question of analysis whether the government will lift the lockdown or not on 31st May. Though the government of Delhi has allowed the reopening of shops at certain places on the basis of odd-even but will that guarantee the security and safety of citizens visiting the shops.
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