India’s toll approaches 25,000

PATNA — One of India’s most impoverished states went into lockdown Thursday, but near-normal traffic on Patna’s streets showed the difficulty of corralling over 125 million people.

The lockdown in the northern state bordering Nepal started as India reported more than 600 deaths in the previous 24 hours, and the Red Cross warned the virus was spreading at “an alarming rate” across south Asia.

With India’s caseload on course to hit one million on Friday or Saturday — and fatalities approaching 25,000 — local authorities across the country are reimposing restrictions that have only recently been lifted.

Bihar, a largely rural state with feeble health infrastructure, went into a 15-day lockdown at midnight, a day after IT hub Bangalore — home to 13 million people — shut down for a week.

All schools, clubs, temples and nonessential businesses were ordered to close in Bihar, but construction and agricultural activity allowed to continue.

And while public transport was shut down, private vehicles are still allowed to operate, and an AFP reporter in the state capital Patna said traffic appeared to be as busy as ever on Thursday morning.

“We have not faced such a situation in my life before, it is really a horrible experience,” said Radhika Singh, a housewife in her late 40s as she jostled to buy rice and lentils Wednesday before the lockdown started.

A lack of coronavirus discipline forced Goa, another Indian state, to announced a three-day shutdown from Thursday evening and a night curfew until 10 August.

Chief minister Pramod Sawant said too many people were “stepping out to meet people at parties” and that there was a low level of “awareness and sensitivity.”