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What life in Odisha’s containment zone looks like amid lockdown
The lockdown, now in its 15th day, has paralysed life in the city of 1.1 million people, and the containment may have made it worse for people sitting at home.
What is it like to live in a containment zone? Ask the residents of an area in Odisha’s capital Bhubaneswar, that has emerged as the biggest site of coronavirus outbreak in the state.
On the evening of April 3, the city’s municipal corporation announced it is creating a “containment zone”, a nearly rectangular area with 1.5 km length and 800 metre width that centred on a housing complex, the epicentre of the local outbreak with 18 positive cases of Covid-19. On Twitter, the municipal corporation released a map showing a black dotted line along the busy Cuttack-Puri road indicating the contours of the zone which it said no one can enter or exit as long as the containment orders were on.
Though I live in Bomikhal, I missed being a part of the zone by about a hundred metres. But hundreds of families have not been that lucky as they came within the zone announced under Sections 2, 3 and 4 of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 and Disaster Management Act, 2005.
The first casualties of containment have been supply of essential commodities like milk, vegetables, groceries and medicine. Though Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) listed a few telephone numbers that can be contacted for ordering essential commodities, the supply has been anything but smooth.
With provisions exhausted, Arun Mohanty on Monday tried the numbers, but not one BMC official picked up. Mohanty, who runs a travel agency in the containment zone of Bomikhal, then decided enough was enough and he better find a way to buy provisions. “I took a chance and sneaked out of the containment zone to come to the road. Luckily, no cop saw me or else they would have beaten me to pulp. I walked for 4 km under hot sun to buy milk, flour and other groceries,” he said.
On Wednesday morning, Trinath Padhi ventured out of his home in Bomikhal area to get some medicines for his 48-year-old wife who has to undergo dialysis once every two days. Padhi’s wife had last undergone dialysis on Monday and her next dialysis was due on Wednesday. But the moment he reached the bamboo barricades at the bylane to get medicines, he was stopped by the policeman. “You can’t exit. Call up the helpline numbers,” the policeman said. “But no one picks up the phone number given for health requirements. I don’t know how I would take my wife for dialysis today?” said Padhi, as he requested the cop to allow him to go to the chemists shop across the road.
Businessman Mukesh Goenka who deals in supply of newsprints to local dailies and a resident of the Bomikhal containment zone too complained of lack of response from the BMC helpline numbers in getting essential supplies. “Most of the times the person at the other end does not pick up. The government perhaps did not think through while announcing containment,” said Goenka.
In Surya Nagar area of the city, where eight people, including a 60-year-old man, tested positive from one particular house, a roadside snacks vendor who stayed in that house has been among those who have been hit the hardest by the containment. The snacks vendor’s mother, wife and sister tested positive and are now being treated in hospital in Cuttack meant exclusively for Covid-19 patients. As the snacks vendor and his daughter have been home quarantined, getting food has been problematic as no one would visit them.
“My daughter has a malfunctioning pancreas since her childhood and her food is restricted. One of my cousins can cook for her, but how would she get the food at the home as no one is being allowed inside the zone?” he asked.
In one of the containment zones, the doctor who was assigned to take the calls of people with health issues, did not pick up calls for first three days till people started complaining. He finally fell in line when he was told of possible departmental action due to negligence. With chemist stores in the localities closed, BMC has formed medical teams for the conatinment zones to supply medicines through these teams. But officials admitted that it has not been a smooth exercise as they have to visit hundreds of households everyday for active surveillance.
The lockdown, now in its 15th day, has paralysed life in the city of 1.1 million people, and the containment may have made it worse for people sitting at home. Many people said they venture out to balcony to peek at the deserted road, but get bored soon.
Suketh Chinchela, who lives in Surya Nagar area of the city with his family said there is a certain eerie feeling in living in a containment zone. “Albeit, the fear, is more that the dreaded disease has come to our doors. Surya Nagar is an area full of retired serviceholders and old people, thereby heightening the fear,” said Chinchela.
“There are no dogs to be seen. The whole area seems like a graveyard even during the day and one can hear the rustle of the leaves of trees. It’s unbelievable,” said a housewife in Surya Nagar area.
With Odisha reporting its first death due to coronavirus on Tuesday when a 72-year-old retired government servant died in AIIMS Bhubaneswar, the authorities have stepped up surveillance and testing. After Surya Nagar and Bomikhal, the officials added Jadupur, Kapilaprasad, Sundarpada and finally Satya Nagar as conatinent zones. Ten villages in Kendrapara district, a gram panchayat in Bhadrak district and a village in Jajpur district have also been declared as containment zones.
Is containment working to slow down our outsized local outbreak? The health department officials said they are hoping it would.
“We are containing certain areas to protect the health of the people and prevent the spread of Covid-19. We understand it causes inconvenience to some people. It has to be appreciated that containment is necessary to prevent community transmission,” the department said in a tweet.
