Life inside a COVID-19 containment zone with independent houses and small apartment complexes in an upper middle class area is as normal as can be. “I say they should extend it. I watch news and get worried when I see people walk on the road aimlessly through the day from my house,” says Abeed, a businessman, who lives in a small lane in Brindavan Colony in the Toli Chowki area demarcated as a containment zone.
There are heavy barricades on the four roads that lead to the area with 101 households and a population of 427 people. Inside, it is eerily quiet with four watchmen and workers of an under-construction building loitering on the leafy lane. On the first floor of one of the buildings, a gentleman works out on a treadmill with earbuds plugged unmindful of the world below. A milk vendor reaches through the southern entrance, measures it out and tries to move the barricade to get in. “Don’t come. Call your customers, ask them to come and take the milk,” says a policeman. “But I have been supplying like this for the past month?” says the milk vendor. The conversation continues before one of the customers walks in to collect the milk at the barricade.
“We are limiting the contact people in the colony have with outsiders. Between 8 a.m. and noon, vegetables are made available,” says Mohan Rao, the nodal officer of the containment zone. “Our focus is ensuring sanitary conditions in the area and supply of daily needs like groceries, milk and medicines,” says Mr. Rao, who has been badgered with calls about pan, cigarettes and supply of meat by some residents.
“About a month ago, a 57-year-old man returned from the US and fell ill due to the COVID-19. He passed away and his wife also tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 and is now admitted to a hospital. Their house is at the end of the street,” says the lone policeman, guarding the western entrance to the locality.
The area was declared a containment zone on April 9 and is likely to remain notified like that till April 30.
“Instead of eating meat, we are eating vegetables. Instead of curries, we are making do with pickles. We don’t have a shortage of supplies. We get 10 packets of milk instead of one and they last for a few days,” says Mehbub Khan, one of the residents.
Outside the street, the main road leading resembles a busy market area in the morning with watermelon sellers, neatly arranged vegetables, medical stores, meat shops and pharmacies packed with buyers.
