[Raulspace999]

There have been talks of a staggered exit which the Government is point to post the April 14th deadline. Although, any assumptions of not increasing the lock down is premature at this juncture.

This is especially in the light of China jumping the gun and declaring open their businesses in Wuhan, Hubei Province at the cost of exposing their other cities to a second wave of Covid 19.

The world trade can only return to normalcy in a staggered and phased manner. Moreover, lifting the lockdown in India can cause an undue strain on our severely ill equipped medical infrastructure. Are we prepared for such a catastrophe considering that medical professionals even in the lockdown period are finding it difficult to cope up in the absence of PPE equipment, masks and not to forget the critical aspect of ventilators.

A list shared by a State government declaring the availability of beds in private/government/municipality hospitals throws out a horrifying picture as regards the availability of dedicated Covid 19 wards and beds.

[saisree]

Originally Posted by Warwithwheels

Will the lockdown be extended beyond April 14th? Any pointers?

As per the news PM has insisted on staggered removal of the lockdown. Wild guess, govt will ask the people who were able to work from home will continue to work that way and others will slowly start entering the markets.

[Slick]

Originally Posted by Raulspace999

There have been talks of a staggered exit which the Government is point to post the April 14th deadline. Although, any assumptions of not increasing the lock down is premature at this juncture.
.....
A list shared by a State government declaring the availability of beds in private/government/municipality hospitals throws out a horrifying picture as regards the availability of dedicated Covid 19 wards and beds.

It's like getting stuck between a rock and a hard place. The economy is bleeding big time. Our economy was suffering even before corona and now the lockdown is making huge losses daily.

On the other hand -

If the lockdown is prematurely withdrawn or even disobeyed then we are staring at an Italy or US like situation or much worse considering how densely populated we are.

I ventured out yesterday to get some essentials but all the shops were closed. I was informed by a lone man that the shops will be opened every three days from now.

So again went down today. I got the necessary stuff, people were mostly very disciplined. I was very relieved at this maturity.

It was premature though, as I decided to check the wet market for fruits and vegetables. To my shock I saw, from far, that it was choc o block with people.

I returned without venturing any further. Imagine what a asymptomatic person would do to this situation. Pure horror.

I hope we extend the lockdown till 30th April with better management of crowds and also better management of essential distribution.

Edit -
Found this article in NDTV.

"If people don't obey the rules seriously and cases continue to rise, then there may be no option but to extend the lockdown," state Health Minister Rajesh Tope told Reuters. "It could be extended in Mumbai and urban areas of Maharashtra by two weeks."

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/coro...home-topscroll

- Slick

[civic-sense]

The numbers continue to surge every day, so it is too premature to start talking about lifting the lockdown. Either the lockdown isn't working, or we will see the effect only a few more days from now. I hope it is the latter. Even if it is indeed working, it would be better to extend the lockdown by a couple of weeks till new cases come down drastically. Lifting the lockdown in a hurry will only spoil whatever we achieve in the 3 weeks.

[Ithaca]

Originally Posted by Warwithwheels

Will the lock down be extended beyond April 14th? Any pointers?

With regard to Maharashtra, the Chief Minister has already warned that the lock down can be extended if people do not comply with the lock down restrictions.

I guess his warning about sporting events now effectively means there is not going to be any IPL games played in Maharashtra. This is a good decision.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday said that lifting of lock down in the state after April 14 will be dependent upon the compliance by people to the government directives to stop the spread of corona virus.

He also said that no permission will be granted to any religious or sporting events in the state till further notice to avoid mingling of people amid corona virus outbreak.

Source Outlook India

All I can hope for is that it is not extended.
One lesson I have taken from this sudden lock down is that henceforth I will take it upon myself to stock enough cooking oil, rice, pulses, other essential cooking requirements, detergents, OTC medicines for a minimum of 3 months.
And I will not be using cash for a minimum of 6 months after the lockdown is over. Digital payment apps is what I will use from now on.

[Lobogris]

Originally Posted by padmrajravi

I understand that with a bit of planning and effort by the electrical engineers and government bodies, the diya show can be pulled off without any problems. But do we really need all this planning at this juncture when all our efforts should be in fighting the pandemic? There are many ways in which we can show respect to the health workers without the grid engineers having to go through all these planning and precautions. Just lighting some Diyas without switching off lights would also serve the purpose right? Another short-sighted call that needs a lot of extra effort and with no real benefit.

Originally Posted by venkyhere

On balance, this is creating a problem, then finding a solution for it, and assuring everyone that the problem is solved. Like picking up a snake from the jungle and putting on your lap, just because your dear friend is a snake antivenom expert. "Light some diyas" would have been enough without ever mentioning any phrase like "switch off"

Fully agree. They should have first anticipated possible issues and consulted experts. If somehow they overlooked it, they should have at least by now realised the problem and asked people to simply light the lamps without turning off any lights.
On one hand we are stopping people from even driving and are beating people up as no non essential activity is to be undertaken. A person isn’t even allowed to go for a walk or take out a child to play. Then on the other hand we will make thousands of engineers travel to offices and power stations to manage this needless exercise. What if, though unlikely, we do have a nationwide grid failure? What will happen to patients in hospitals and even general law and order? Rather than these meaningless gestures, the government can show appreciation for healthcare workers by providing them with proper equipment and perhaps doubling their salaries during this period. It would have been better to ask everyone to donate say 100 Rupees in a fund to purchase equipment for hospitals as a gesture of solidarity.

[yd_gli]

Originally Posted by Lobogris

Fully agree. They should have first anticipated possible issues and consulted experts
On one hand we are stopping people from even driving and are beating people up as no non essential activity is to be undertaken. A person isn’t even allowed to go for a walk or take out a child to play.

Here in Pune, the lockdown is enforced so strictly that I can't take a 30min solitary walk in my apartment complex without the fear of cops showing up and threatening to beat me. On the other hand in Mumbai my relatives are busy going out to the restaurants to pick up meals and stop by at the mithaiwala for samosas etc. Heck even the vegetable market at Parle is full of Street vendors . Why the inconsistency? Clearly there have been no instructions from the top to the city police on how things have to enforced. Each commissioner makes rules based on his interpretation of the lockdown. It's no wonder then that cases continue to rise.
I would rather have preferred an area by area lockdown depending on the number of cases and logical rules (30mins of exercise a day, not more than 2 people in a car/1 more on a motorcycle etc). The current situation is bordering on a police state where people are getting beaten up unnecessarily in some areas for no apparent reason.

[khanmaj]

Lockdown has certainly helped in containing the spread however, the numbers are increasing every hour. I don't think removing lockdown is going to help greatly to the manufacturing units and factories as most unorganized or even organized labourers would not report at work immediately. I wish that this should be extended for one more week and then government analyze and take the appropriate step. The initial chaos is settled and the supply of essentials are mostly sorted too. We have already taken server hit on the economy so let's lose at one front, not both.

[bblost]

My observations for Hyderabad.

I went out of my apartment complex after so many days and drove almost 20 kms in all.

Only pharmacies and grocery shops are open. All other shops are closed.
Crossed multiple Police check posts. Was stopped at only one and let go after a 10 second interrogation.

Lots of street vendor selling fruits on carts and vegetables from trucks.
Traffic was sparse but very unruly.

Crossed a ration shop which was distributing rice. Heavy crowd outside it. Social distancing was not being followed.
D-Mart had a long queue waiting outside.

Most other supermarkets did not have much of a crowd.

My destination was Apollo Hospital main branch. Not very crowded. The lobby had a lot beds kept ready in anticipation of a surge in numbers.

One of the victims of this lockdown are the poor street dogs. With all roadside restaurants closed, they are starving. A kind lady from my apartment goes out everyday to put some food for them.

[aim120]

Originally Posted by bblost

One of the victims of this lockdown are the poor street dogs. With all roadside restaurants closed, they are starving. A kind lady from my apartment goes out everyday to put some food for them.

The street dogs in my street are so used to non veg from hotels that they refuse to eat veg food and are now down to their bones. The alfa males and females somehow find non veg to eat but the rest do not eat any of the veg food that I give. They don't even eat biscuits that I throw. Only two pups eat the biscuits.

Compare that to my labradors I had in 90s which ate just about everything.

[bluevolt]

https://news.abplive.com/news/india/...tbreak-1190198

Section 144 has been extended in Noida till April 30th. Is section 144 synonymous with Lockdown?

Can IT companies resume their operations under section 144? Will Delhi-Noida border remain sealed till the time Sec 144 is imposed?

[drive_angry]

Originally Posted by yd_gli

Here in Pune, the lockdown is enforced so strictly that I can't take a 30min solitary walk in my apartment complex without the fear of cops showing up and threatening to beat me.

Sadly in my area (Pune), I see people roaming here and there like its no one's business. In my apartment complex itself, I see parents with their kids, dogs and heck old-timers are usually busy discussing anything and everything twice a day. On the main road, I see people on foot, cycles, bikes and even in cars. There is a grocery shop nearby which is always crowded and social distancing is nowhere to be seen. I wish people to be more responsible and careful so that we can go back to our usual normal lives.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by drive_angry

I wish people to be more responsible and careful so that we can go back to our usual normal lives.

I am all for social distancing & being safe. But I don't think it's going to help us go back to normal life earlier.

I don't think the point of lockdown or social distancing is to stop the virus dead in it's track. The point is just to slow down the spread so that not everyone gets it at the same time & overwhelm the system. Barring any miracle, I don't believe we can get back to normal life until 60-70% of us have been infected. The hope is that it happens over many months so that the system doesn't get overwhelmed. For most people, the virus will have minimum effect or be like a bad flu/cold.

[civic-sense]

Originally Posted by carboy

I am all for social distancing & being safe. But I don't think it's going to help us go back to normal life earlier.

I don't think the point of lockdown or social distancing is to stop the virus dead in it's track. The point is just to slow down the spread so that not everyone gets it at the same time & overwhelm the system. Barring any miracle, I don't believe we can get back to normal life until 60-70% of us have been infected. The hope is that it happens over many months so that the system doesn't get overwhelmed. For most people, the virus will have minimum effect or be like a bad flu/cold.

Well, if we don't arrest the spread, lifting the lockdown will restart the spread. So a 3 week lockdown can only delay the virus boom, not slow it. Since we are at the begining of the epidemic, a properly imposed lockdown could arrest the virus - the only impediment being the unwillingness of people to co-operate. If we do not do it now, we would be doing several months of lockdown later.

[yd_gli]

Originally Posted by drive_angry

Sadly in my area (Pune), I see people roaming here and there like its no one's business. In my apartment complex itself, I see parents with their kids, dogs and heck old-timers are usually busy discussing anything and everything twice a day. On the main road, I see people on foot, cycles, bikes and even in cars. There is a grocery shop nearby which is always crowded and social distancing is nowhere to be seen. I wish people to be more responsible and careful so that we can go back to our usual normal lives.

That is just crazy! Further reinforces my point that there is absolutely no understanding or coordination with the local police departments on how this lockdown has to be enforced. There will always be a rogue/sadistic population in every force and not having clear instructions is a recipe for trouble. Sorry state of affairs.