No entry-exit, PPE suits for garbage collection: Life in Delhi’s Covid-19 hotspots

Authorities in Delhi announced on Wednesday a hard lockdown of 23 areas with large number of Covid-19 cases and ordered all citizens to wear masks while stepping out of their homes, tightening curbs to combat the outbreak even as 93 new cases took the total number of infections in the national capital to 669.

The three areas added to the list of 20 areas late on Wednesday are Bengali Market, Sadar and Moti Bagh.

All movements have been completely barred in Shahjahanabad Apartments - part of containment zone in Dwarka’s Sector 11 - to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease Covid-19. Sanitation is being carried out in the housing society and the gates have been locked.

“Nobody will be allowed to enter or exit from these areas,” Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had said on Wednesday while announcing the list of hostpots.

In Bengali Market, latest to be added to the list of hotspots, police said that strict legal action will be taken against violators.

“Bengali Market area has been sealed. Strict legal action will be taken against violators. A list of phone numbers has been issued. You can order essential items on phone. It will be delivered at your doorstep,” news agency ANI quoted a police official as saying.

The Bengali Market area, along with Babar Road, Todarmal Road, Babar Lane and School Lane were sealed after three positive cases were found in the area.

What a hard lockdown means that people will need to mandatorily keep indoors and all businesses - including grocery stores and banks that have been exempted from curbs as essential services - will be shut. Critical services such as food and medicine will be home-delivered by government personnel.

Sanitation workers of North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) wore personal protective gear for the collection of garbage from the houses of the quarantined areas in Paharganj, in central Delhi, reported news agency ANI.

The tightening of measures comes at a time when officials are debating whether, and how, the unprecedented nationwide lockdown should be relaxed after April 14, the date when the three-week curbs are scheduled to end.

A hard lockdown has been identified as the key containment strategy at this stage, when India is seeing a steady stream of cases that can still be interrupted by stringent tactics that force people into social distancing.