Quarantine: An excuse for autocracy?

ings, including social, political, religious, and sporting events are also banned for now. The third phase of the un-lockdown plan will focus on the resumption of these activities. No date, however, has been set for this. All activities mentioned in the three phases of the plan have been banned since March 25, when a nationwide lockdown was imposed for the first time.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has called a meeting of top officials on Sunday to finalise the Capital’s lockdown rules. “The central government has issued a basic framework for unlocking more services and utilities...a call will be taken on Sunday on issues such as opening of malls on an alternate basis or entirely, allowing dine-in service in restaurants, and opening of hotels, salons and spas, among others,” a state government spokesperson said.

In another significant step, the Union government has relaxed the night curfew prohibiting nonessential travel. The ban on such movement will be between 9pm and 5am. Previously, it was between 7pm and 7am.

Containment zones, which can be termed the epicentre of an infection, will continue to be under a hard lockdown at least till June 30, the home ministry guidelines said. Only essential activities will be allowed in these areas and strict perimeter control will ensure that people cannot move in or out except for medical emergencies and essential supplies. The Centre has empowered states/uts to identify containment zones in accordance with health ministry guidelines. Local authorities can also identify buffer zones, which are areas adjoining containment zones, and impose restrictions.

The guidelines said there shall be no restriction on the movement of persons and goods between two states and within a state, and that no special permission is required for such transport. However, states/uts may prohibit certain activities outside containment zones based on their assessment, but they are not allowed to dilute the federal guidelines.

“I would urge you to ensure compliance of the new guidelines, and direct all concerned authorities for their strict implementation,” Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla said in a letter to states. He drew their attention specifically to the second phase that deals with the opening of schools and colleges, and asked them to send their feedback.

Like the previous guidelines, the fresh one too advises people above 65, children below 10, pregnant women and those with underlying health conditions to stay indoors. The government has reiterated its advice for downloading the contact-tracing Aarogya Setu app, saying it “enables early identification of potential risk of infection”.

In a section termed “National Directives for Covid-19 Management”, the guidelines said face covers are mandatory in public places, asked people to maintain a distance of at least six feet, and reiterated that spitting and the consumption of paan, gutkha, tobacco and liquor in public places are not allowed. Weddings can be held with a maximum 50 guests and funerals with 20 people in attendance, according to the guidelines. Though there are no restrictions on offices, they have been asked to promote the idea of working from home as far as possible and put emphasis on staggered work hours.

“With a view on ensuring safety in offices and work places, employers on best effort basis should ensure that Aarogya Setu is installed by all employees having compatible mobile phones,” the guidelines said.

The fresh rules have been drafted after telephonic conversations between home minister Amit Shah and chief ministers. On Friday, Shah met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the suggestions by states.

The nationwide lockdown — the first phase was imposed on March 25 for 21 days — has been extended thrice. The second and the third phases of the curbs — beginning April 15 and May 4 — lasted 19 days and 14 days, respectively. The fourth phase, which began on May 18, ends on Sunday. That works out to a total of 68 days of being locked down.

The government has so far allowed the functioning of public and private offices in a graded manner, resumed limited passenger train services and domestic air travel, and also allowed the conditional reopening of shops and marketplaces except those in malls. Restrictions on public transport too have been considerably eased.

“We welcome the announcement by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to allow shopping centres, malls to open starting 8th of June,” Amitabh Taneja, chairman, Shopping Centres Association

of India, said in a statement.

Shiladitya and Debaditya Chaudhury, co-founders of Oudh 1590, Chapter 2 and Master Dimsum — three popular Kolkata restaurants, said: “We welcome the decision of the MHA regarding opening of restaurants. We are working on a stringent SOP adhering to contact less dining and maintaining social distancing norms, which we will be announced soon...” tries, but if our hospitals don’t get completely overrun and mortality remains low, as is happening in Tamil Nadu, then we’re in a good place,” said Dr Randeep Guleria, director, All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

The mortality ratio in Tamil Nadu is less than 1% due to what experts say is an aggressive containment strategy by the state which has always had high quality public health care.

“The number of cases will definitely increase, given our large population, and high mobility. Even if we touch a large number, if we are able to save the health system and isolate the majority of people with mild symptoms at home or in Covid Care Facilities, and the mortality is not high, we are fine,” added Dr Guleria.

According to the Union health ministry on Saturday, the doubling time of coronavirus cases in India over the last fortnight has improved to 15.4 days from 13.3 days.

“During the last 24 hours, a total of 11,264 Covid-19 patients have been cured. This is the highest number of recoveries recorded in a day,” the Union health ministry said in a statement.

The move comes after the government changed its discharge policy. “When we realised that our patients are recovering sooner, then after looking at the data we decided that we can discharge the mild cases sooner. Our discharges have accelerated after the new discharge policy,” said Dr VK Paul, member of NITI Aayog, in a press briefing on Thursday.

Cumulatively, 3,612,242 tests have been done so far for Covid-19 and 126,842 samples were tested on Friday, the ministry said.

There are now 942 dedicated Covid hospitals with 158,908 isolation beds, 20,608 ICU beds and 69,384 oxygen supported beds are available, it added.

Fatalities recorded a sharp increase in countries like Spain and Italy, and New York city, where hospitals were overwhelmed after a sudden spike in infections. Most of these regions enforced varying degrees of lockdowns after cases began to spike, compared to India that adopted such restrictions early on.

“Two things worked in our favour: the young demographic and early implementation of lockdown before cases exploded, helping flatten the curve and prevent deaths,” said Dr Ambarish Dutta, associate professor of epidemiology and public health, Indian Institute of Public Healthbhubaneswar.

India went under a sweeping, unprecedented lockdown on March 25 when people were banned from stepping out of their homes for any purpose except for a handful of essential or emergency reasons. At the time, the number of cases in the country was 602, and deaths, 12. The curbs have slowly been relaxed in the months since, with the government announcing on Saturday a phased unlock plan from June.

“Around 9% of India’s population is over the age of 60, compared to 28% in Italy, which recorded a high number of deaths. In most countries, 40% deaths happened in care homes, which have a concentration of older persons, who are most vulnerable. Young people get less severe disease and are also less likely to get infected but when coronavirus spreads to a cluster of older people living together, it’s dangerous,” Dr Dutta added.

But India’s population patterns are also what add to risks in the country, he added. “What is working against us is unimaginably high urban density, which has led to clusters in Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, and Chennai. In urban slums and transport, social distancing is not possible and cases will go up, but most of the migrant population in slums is young and able to fight the virus,” he said.

In other countries where infections have peaked, deaths could have come down because of the “harvesting effect”, which is an epidemiological term used to describe the vulnerable dying very quickly and making the death rate peak, after which it goes down, Dutta added.

The health ministry reiterated on Saturday that all precautions must be taken while “living with the new normal” of Covid-19.

These include physical distancing at public places and workplaces, frequent hand washing and use of masks or face covers.