One year of lockdown: Unlocked, and holding on to hope

A look at some of the Capital’s iconic spaces to capture how they coped with the lockdown and its aftermath.

On March 24, 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a countrywide lockdown, starting at midnight, to contain the spread of Covid-19. The decision followed a 14-hour voluntary “janata curfew” (public curfew) on March 22.

Faced with an unprecedented situation and prevailing uncertainty, here’s how the Capital’s heart stopped beating, and then slowly stuttered back to life, even as normalcy is a fair distance away. (HT Photo)

Till then, India had reported 536 infections. “There is absolutely no need to panic,” PM Modi said at the time, initially announcing a shutdown for three weeks. But a continuous surge in cases forced the Centre to extend restrictions several times, eventually extending the hard lockdown to 68 days.

In addition to restrictions on movement of people, the lockdown halted all transport services — road, air and rail — with exceptions for transportation of essential goods, fire, police and emergency services. Essential services such as grocery shops, banks and ATMs, petrol pumps, among others, remained open, but the streets fell silent in a manner they had never before.

By June 1, when the country had over 198,000 infections, the Centre announced a phased easing of restrictions — bringing life back to some regions. After a gap of over two months, the Indian Railways, too, announced that it was resuming operations of nearly 100 trains.

Domestic flight services were resumed a little earlier, on May 25.

A year later, the country is now facing a second wave of Covid-19 infections, with worst-hit states such as Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat imposing district-level partial lockdowns and restrictions.

On Tuesday, India registered 47,239 new Covid-19 cases and 276 fatalities, which have taken the country’s cumulative tally to 11,733,595 and the toll to 160,497, according to the Union health ministry data.

Faced with an unprecedented situation and prevailing uncertainty, here’s how the Capital’s heart stopped beating, and then slowly stuttered back to life, even as normalcy is a fair distance away.

A deserted view (left) of one of the busiest markets in the national capital, Connaught Place, during the nationwide lockdown on April 3; versus the traffic on Tuesday. (Sanjeev Verma/HT Photo)

An aerial view of the green cover and empty stretches (left) of New Delhi’s Vikas Marg and ITO Bridge on April 17, 2020, versus a swarm of vehicles on the road on Tuesday. (Sonu Mehta and Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

The iconic Jama Masjid (Left) and the adjoining Chandni Chowk market in the national capital during the lockdown on March 22, 2020. The area is now open to the public and is reporting big crowds (Right). (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

Sadar Bazar, one of Delhi’s biggest wholesale markets, wears a deserted look during the lockdown on April 1, 2020 (Left). A huge crowd of shoppers is seen on Tuesday (Right). Ajay Aggarwal and Sanchit Khanna/ HT Photo