New Delhi: Indian authorities today significantly expanded the scope and duration of the suspended services in a bid to prevent the community spread of the novel coronavirus in the country as according to the Johns Hopkins University’s corona resource centre the total number of confirmed cases across the world reached above 3.1 lakh, and confirmed deaths crossed the figure of 13,000. On Sunday, when the country was observing a self-imposed daylong homestay following an appeal by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Indian Railways announced the suspension of all passenger, suburban and metro trains till month end following a meeting of chief secretary with the top officials of state governments.
“All train services suspended till 31st March 2020 including suburban rail services. However, goods trains are exempted,” said the Union government in a statement.
India’s massive public transport system poses the biggest threat of community spread of the coronavirus. According to the latest information available on the railway ministry’s website, the national carrier operates 21,000 passenger and freight trains daily and transports 2.3 crore (23 million) people on a daily basis.
The authorities were left with no choice but to shut down this vast transportation network as an emergency measure as they are struggling to prevent the country from sliding towards the third stage when the Covid-19 virus begins to transmit locally.
“The biggest challenge in front of us is how to break the chain of Covid-19 transmission,” said a health ministry official.
In his address, Prime Minister Modi had referred to a sudden explosion in the number of cases witnessed in other countries where the virus has caused havoc.
“In view of the need to contain the spread of Covid-19, it was agreed that there is an urgent need to extend the restrictions on the movement of non-essential passenger transport including inter-state transport buses till 31st March 2020,” said the government in a statement.
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The inter-state transport buses operated by state governments are the second most preferred mode of public transport in the country and it was considered essential to suspend their services to prevent the inter-state prevent the entry of infected people from outside the state.
“The easiest way to break the chain of transmission is to prevent the entry of outside people,” said Dr Balram Bhargav of Indian Council of Medical Research.
States resort to lockdown to insulate themselves
Today, the Union government also urged the states to restrict all non-essential services in 75 of the total 720 districts in the country, which reported confirmed cases of Covid-19 virus infection.
Several states have closed their borders for people and goods coming from outside except that are extremely essential.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal asked the people to stay at home for a few more days.
While in Delhi, the city government, imposed prohibitory orders under section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) to ban the assembly of more than 4 persons at one place, in Maharashtra, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray also banned the assembly of more than 4 persons in all urban centres.
Maharashtra reported 10 new cases of the coronavirus infection on Sunday and the health minister confirmed that five of them were infected through local transmission while five others have a history of overseas travel.
States like Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Punjab, Odisha have also resorted to similar prohibitory measures to prevent the local transmission of the virus in their area.
Also read: Maharashtra clamps near-total lockdown from Sunday night
Prolonged battle against the novel coronavirus
On Thursday, in his televised national address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had set the tone when appealed to the public to observe one-day self-imposed homestay, referred as Janta Curfew (public curfew).
However, in an indication of things to come, he also said that this one day Janta Curfew will prepare the country for future challenges and its success will be a symbol of the country’s resolve and forbearance as he asked people’s support for a few weeks.
It gave enough indication that the government was preparing for a longer lockdown beyond Sunday.
He also urged the state governments to take leadership in imposing prohibitory measures as there is no effective cure or vaccine against the virus.
And these apprehensions turned out to be true as the authorities today significantly expanded the scope of services under the lockdown.
People brace for a longer lockdown
Though the Prime Minister had asked the people not to resort to panic buying and stockpile essential goods, a large number of people were seen significant quantities of daily used items, groceries, food and vegetables across the country.
Also read: All passenger, express trains cancelled till March 31: Railways
They bought essential supplies for several days to prepare themselves for a longer lockdown.
A longer lockdown, that is expected to last for 11 days from March 22 to 31, will also give some time to the authorities to break the chain of local transmission.
It will also give them the opportunity to sanitise the public transport system and public places as the total confirmed cases in the country have gone up to 341 with five confirmed deaths due to the virus.
