As the second wave of Covid-19 surges in India, several states have imposed a strict lockdown, or put restrictions against gatherings to curb the growing number of cases. However, with the festival of Eid soon approaching, covid appropriate norms went for a toss in several cities as people thronged markets for festival shopping.
Telangana
A 10-day lockdown has been imposed in Telangana after the High Court pulled up the state government for utter mismanagement, but markets continued to buzz with shoppers in old Hyderabad.
#WATCH | People throng markets near Hyderabad’s Charminar area ahead of Eid tomorrow. A 10-day lockdown is in place in Telangana to contain the spread of COVID19 cases pic.twitter.com/LQudIqMpWm
— ANI (@ANI) May 13, 2021
As per an ANI report, from Charminar to Madina, the markets in the city witnessed huge crowds on Tuesday ditching social distancing completely.
Maharashtra
The state of Maharashtra has also released guidelines for the festival of Eid-ul-Fitr, however, people were seen flouting Covid protocols in Mumbai while shopping before Eid.
Men, women and children were all seen shopping and roaming without masks in Muslim-dominated areas like Bhendi Bazaar in South Mumbai.
After a slump of two days, the state of Maharashtra witnessed a rise in new cases and fatalities with 793 deaths recorded on Tuesday.
Jammu & Kashmir
The Covid-19 relaxations in Srinagar had to be scrapped as people flocked the markets despite a rise in new coronavirus cases and fatalities. Srinagar at present has the highest number of active coronavirus cases in the Union territory.
Security personnel have been deployed across the valley to restrict public movement. Srinagar deputy commissioner Aijaz Asad withdrew the relaxation announced. “The provision of exemption for partially permissible activities from 8 am to 12 pm is hereby withdrawn till further orders,” said the new order.
Uttar Pradesh
Several cities in Uttar Pradesh defied the Covid-19 protocols and partial lockdown completely with huge crowds thronging the markets with no masks and social distancing. At a time when the state government has enabled door-to-door testing to not let the situation worsen, such shattering of basic Covid appropriate norms might nullify the efforts.
Markets in Firozabad witnessed huge crowds with the Qazi Syed Shahniyaz Ali expressing utter displeasure over the flouting of basic norms. Ali said at a time when the government officials and frontline warriors are engaged to battle the pandemic, the public must cooperate with the administration.
As per an Aaj Tak report, the markets in Aligarh were extremely crowded. This is after the Aligarh Muslim University reported more than 40 deaths among staff members.
West Bengal
Newly re-elected West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee ruled out the imposition of a lockdown but has allowed religious and cultural programs to take place with a maximum of 50 people.
This comes after the state of West Bengal recorded its highest single-day spike of 19,441 COVID-19 on Monday.
