MUMBAI (AP) – The teeming metropolis of Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra, the Indian state most affected by the pandemic, are facing tougher restrictions starting Wednesday for 15 days in an effort to stop the wave of coronavirus infections.
Senior government officials stressed that the closure of most industries, businesses, public places, and restrictions on people’s movement did not constitute a lockdown.
Last year, a sudden, harsh nationwide lockdown left millions of people unemployed overnightStranded in cities with no income or food, thousands of migrant workers walked highways to get home. Since then, state leaders have repeatedly stressed that a new lockdown was out of the question.
The distinction did not allay Ramachal Yadav’s concern. On Wednesday morning, he joined thousands of others at a Mumbai train station and boarded the train home. “There is no work,” said the 45-year-old.
India has discovered more than 180,000 new infections in the past 24 hours, about a third in the state of Maharashtra. India has so far confirmed more than 13.9 million cases and 172,000 deaths, which is likely an under-number.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said most public places, shops and establishments will be closed from 8pm on Wednesday, expect essential services such as supermarkets and banks.
While the state has announced a $ 728 million aid package that will include aid for the poor, industry experts say the new restrictions could prove fatal to companies just recovering from last year’s economic recession.
“Livelihood is important, but life is more important,” said Thackeray, echoing a difficult choice faced by other states in India.
The scenes that took place in Maharashtra over the past week mirror those that developed in other parts of the country: patients gasping for air turned away from hospitals running out of oxygen and crying families waiting their turn to say goodbye to their loved ones in crematoriums.
Additional concern is whether India, despite being the world’s largest producer of vaccines, will have enough to immunize its massive population fast enough to slow down the virus.
India said Tuesday it would approve vaccines that had received an emergency nod from the World Health Organization or regulators in the United States, Europe, Britain or Japan. Indian regulators also approved Russia’s Sputnik V for emergency use. But experts said the decision was unlikely to have an immediate impact on available supplies in the country.
“All you can think of is that I hope I don’t get sick in the next month,” said Dr. Vineeta Bal, who studies immune systems at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in the city of Pune, Maharashtra. .
Ghosal reported from New Delhi.
The Associated Press Department of Health and Science is supported by the Science Education Department of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The AP is solely responsible for all content.