India's poorest 'fear hunger may kill us before coronavirus'

• 25 March 2020

• Share this with Facebook
•  
• Share this with Messenger
•  
• Share this with Twitter
•  
• Share this with Email
•  
• Share

Related Topics

• Coronavirus pandemic

Image captionAli Hasan has no money to buy food after the shop he worked in closed

India has been put in lockdown to halt the spread of the coronavirus outbreak. People have been told to stay indoors, but for many daily-wage earners this is not an option. The BBC's Vikas Pandey finds out how they were coping in the days leading up to Tuesday's announcement.

Labour Chowk in Noida is usually brimming with hundreds of men looking for jobs as construction labourers.

The small intersection of roads in this suburban area of Delhi is a hotspot where builders come to hire workers.

But it was eerily quiet when I drove there on Sunday during the initial lockdown. Everything was still - one could never imagine listening to the sound of birds chirping in such a busy area.

But I did - almost in disbelief.

I soon spotted a group of men huddled in a corner.

I stopped and asked them, from a safe distance, if they were following the lockdown.

Ramesh Kumar, who comes from Banda district in Uttar Pradesh state, said that he knew "there won't be anybody to hire us, but we still took our chances".

"I earn 600 rupees ($8; £6.50) every day and I have five people to feed. We will run out of food in a few days. I know the risk of coronavirus, but I can't see my children hungry," he said.

Millions of other daily-wage earners are in a similar situation. The lockdown announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday evening means they are now facing no prospect of income for the next three weeks. The likelihood is, some will run out of food in the coming days.

Image captionKishan Lal - a rickshaw puller in the northern city of Allahabad - has earned no money in four days

India has reported more than 500 confirmed cases and at least 10 people have died.

Several state governments, including Uttar Pradesh in the north, Kerala in the south and the national capital Delhi, have promised direct cash transfers into the accounts of workers like Mr Kumar. Prime Minister Modi's government has also promised to help daily-wage earners affected by the lockdown.

But there are logistical challenges.

• India suspends visas to halt coronavirus spread
• Is India prepared for a coronavirus outbreak?
• What India can learn from 1918 flu to fight Covid-19

At least 90% of India's workforce is employed in the informal sector, according to the International Labour Organization, working in roles like security guards, cleaners, rickshaw pullers, streets vendors, garbage collectors and domestic helps.

Most do not have access to pensions, sick leave, paid leave or any kind of insurance. Many do not have bank accounts, relying on cash to meet their daily needs.

Lots are migrant workers, which means that they are technically residents of a different state to the one where they work. Then there is the problem of the floating population: people who do not live in any state for a long period as they move around to find work.

Akhilesh Yadav, the former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, admits these challenges are huge, acknowledging that "nobody in any government has faced them before".

"All governments need to act lightning fast because the situation is changing every day. We need to activate big community kitchens and deliver food to people who need it. We need to hand out cash or rice and wheat - irrespective of who comes from which state," he said.

Image captionThis cobbler - who did not give his name - did not know why the station was empty

Mr Yadav is particularly worried about his state, which is India's most populous, with an estimated 220m residents.

"We have got to stop people from travelling to one city from another to avoid community transmission. And one way of doing is to ensure food security. People rush to their villages in times of crisis," he added.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has said that a team of workers was tracking those who have arrived from other states and everybody who needs help will be supported by his government.

Indian Railways has now suspended all passenger services until 31 March.

But just days before the suspension kicked in on 23 March, hundreds of thousands of migrant workers travelled in packed trains from outbreak-hit cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad to their villages in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar states.

That has heightened the risk of community transmission and experts fear that the coming two weeks are the most challenging for India.

However, not everybody could afford to travel to their villages.

Kishan Lal, who works as rickshaw puller in the northern city of Allahabad, said he had not made any money in the past four days.

"I need to earn to feed my family. I have heard that the government is going to give us money - though I have no idea when and how," he said.

His friend Ali Hasan, who works as a cleaner in a shop, said he had run out of money to buy food.

"The shop shut down two days ago and I haven't been paid. I don't know when it will open. I am very scared. I have a family, how am I going to feed them?" he asked.

• A SIMPLE GUIDE: What are the symptoms?
• AVOIDING CONTACT: Should I self-isolate?
• STRESS: How to protect your mental health
• LOOK-UP TOOL: Check cases in your area
• MAPS AND CHARTS: Visual guide to the outbreak

Millions of Indians also earn money as street entrepreneurs - people who own small businesses and employ people like themselves.

Mohammed Sabir, who runs a tiny stall selling yogurt-based drinks in Delhi, says he had hired two people recently, anticipating more business during the summers.

"Now I can't pay them. I don't have any money. My family earns some money from farming in my village. But their crops were damaged this year due to hailstorms, so they were looking at me for support.

"I feel so helpless. I fear that hunger may kill many like us before coronavirus," he said.

Image captionMohammed Sabir cannot afford to pay his employees

All monuments are also shut in the country and that has had an impact on many who make money from tourism.

Tejpal Kashyap, who works as a photographer at the iconic India Gate in Delhi, said he had never seen such a sharp drop in business.

"Last two weeks were bad - even when there was no lockdown. There were hardly any tourists. Now I can't even go back to my village and I can't even work. I am stuck here in Delhi and constantly worried about my family in my village in Uttar Pradesh," he said.

Drivers of ride-hailing services like Uber and Ola are also suffering.

Joginder Chaudhary, who drives a taxi for the employees of an airline in Delhi, says the government needs to give "some relief to people like me".

"I understand the importance of the lockdown. Coronavirus is dangerous and we need to protect ourselves. But I can't help but think how I will support my family if the lockdown continues for weeks," he said.

And some haven't even heard about coronavirus.

Image captionPhotographer Tejpal Kashyap says business has been bad for weeks

A cobbler, who didn't want to give his name, said he had been "polishing people's shoes at the railway station in Allahabad for years, but nobody is showing up now".

He said he doesn't even know why people have stopped travelling.

"I don't know what is happening. Not many people are coming to the station these days. I know that some curfew is going on, but I don't know why," he said.

Vinod Prajapati, who sells water bottles in the same area, intervenes in the conversation.

"I know everything about coronavirus. It's very dangerous, the whole world is struggling. Most people who can afford and have a place to stay are indoors. But for people like us, the choice is between safety and hunger. What should we pick?" he asks.

Additional reporting and pictures by Vivek Singh in Allahabad

Sweden keeps schools and borders open in 'huge experiment' on virus

While much of the world goes into lockdown to stop the disease, in Sweden, life is continuing unchanged - but is it the right approach?

ByRichard Orange MALMÖ26 March 2020 • 4:44pm

Premium

People in Sweden enjoying the sun on Thursday despite the coronavirus outbreak CREDIT: Reuters

Swedish children continued to pour through the gates of their schools and kindergartens on Thursday as the Nordic nation stood increasingly alone in Europe in its approach to tackling the coronavirus pandemic.

Shops and restaurants also remained open across the country, with parks and recreational areas packed with groups enjoying the spring sunshine.

Despite a surge in Covid-19 patients and growing dissent among epidemiological experts, the Swedish government’s medical experts were last night standing by their decision not to follow almost all other EU nations by instituting economic and social lockdowns.

Anders Tegnell, Sweden's state epidemiologist, said the different approach reflected the independence traditionally enjoyed by government agencies like the Public Health Agency of Sweden and the reluctance of politicians to override expert advice.

"I might look like the figurehead, but agencies in Sweden are very much working as a whole," he told the Daily Telegraph. "These are not decisions I take on my own in my little office."

He conceded, however, that if infection rates do start to soar and Sweden ends up in a similar situation to that Italy or Spain has faced, he would face criticism.

"Of course, I and the agency will be to blame, for sure. I'm quite aware of that," he said. "But I would feel a lot worse taking a lot of decisions I don't believe in and for things to go wrong, than to take decisions I and the agency very much do believe in and for things not to work out."

Unlike Denmark and Norway, which both shut schools and kindergartens at the start of last week, and where, in Denmark at least, any gathering of more than 10 people is banned, much of life in Sweden remains unchanged.  

The government has only banned events with more than 500 participants, issuing a recommendation that those who visit pubs and restaurants should be seated at a table rather than mingling at a bar, and that people taking public transport should "think carefully" about whether it's necessary. Those who fall ill with coronavirus-like symptoms need only wait two days after they feel well again before returning to work or school.

The advice has not changed despite a surge of cases in Stockholm in recent days which led the city’s health chief Björn Eriksson to call for any help he could get handling the influx of coronavirus patients.

"The storm is here," Mr Eriksson said, announcing that 18 patients had died in the region in the preceding 24 hours, doubling its total death tally in a single daily update.

"We don't know how far we've come yet in this storm, but it's going to get worse."

At the school gates, opinion was mixed as the wisdom of the Swedish government’s outlier approach to the pandemic.

"I do think it's a bit irresponsible," said one father picking up his daughter from Västra Skolan in Malmö, contrasting Sweden's open approach with the strict lockdown imposed in his native Denmark across the Öresund straits in his native Denmark.

"I think they should be doing more."

Even children whose parents he knew were home sick with coronavirus-like symptoms, he complained, were still allowed to come to classes, so long as the children themselves were symptom-free.

"In my opinion, they are very relaxed," said Rosaline Abugiche, and she picked up her daughter Ellen Ruth. "Almost all places are still open and it's getting worse and worse. Everybody's worried about it."

Johan Heander, another parent, was more relaxed.

"I think Sweden and the UK were the only country's being sensible about the whole thing, and then the UK got scared and closed down."

Sweden has decided not to close schools because in a country where stay-at-home parents are almost unheard of, the country's health agencies believe it would remove at least a quarter of the workforce, and an even higher share in the health sector. Closing schools would also put more children on the streets, increasing the risk of vulnerable elderly people becoming infected. If grandparents are called in to help out with childcare, it could even increase the infection exposure of the most at-risk group.

Mr Tegnell also argues that there is little evidence for the shutdown measures seen across Europe.

"The only studies they have done are on flu and flu is quite different, and even with flu, it should be done at a later stage," he said.  

"The other thing is that you cannot keep schools closed for very long. That would have huge negative effects on the children, not only their education, but also on their health. So if you do close schools, you really need to do it at the most crucial time."

Mr Tegnell also noted that, unlike in Italy and Spain, it is very rare in Sweden for several generations of a family to live together under the same roof, making it much easier to isolate the vulnerable older generation.

"We have age segregation in Sweden, which is certainly quite different to most other countries," he said. "Elderly people meet mostly elderly people and younger people meet mostly younger people. And I think that gives us a reasonable chance to actually protect our elderly."

But expert opinion has been divided. As early as March 10, a group of doctors and researchers wrote a joint opinion piece in Sweden's leading medical newspaper warning of a potential "disastrous impact" on Sweden's health service if tougher actions were not taken.  

On Tuesday, more than 2,000 eminent Swedish researchers and university professors sent an open letter to the government calling for tougher measures.

"I get the feeling that they want to spread the infection to get an immunity, but it's pretty cynical because it will be at the price of hundreds, if not thousands of lives," said Olle Kämpe, a professor at Sweden's leading medical university the Karolinska Institutet, who was among the authors.

For now it is too early to say how the pandemic will play out. Sweden has recorded 2,806 confirmed cases of infection, which at 281 cases per million people puts it below Denmark and Norway, and just slightly ahead of the UK.

After Wednesday's surge in Stockholm, it has recorded 66 deaths, which at 6.5 deaths per million inhabitants, remains below that of locked-down Denmark (7.3) and only fractionally above that of the UK (6.2).

So far, the healthcare system is starting to feel under pressure in Stockholm, but is still just about managing, and if the strain gets too much for existing hospitals, the Swedish army has erected a field hospital on the site of the city's biggest conference centre.

Mr Tegnell conceded his strategy was not without risk.  

"We are just trying to slow it," he added, "because this disease will never go away. It will come back. If you manage, like South Korea to get rid of it, even they say that they count on it coming back."

"Stopping it might even be negative, because you would have a pent-up possible spread of the disease, and then once you open the gates, there is a possibility that there would be an even worse outcome."

1 hr 58 min ago

Prince Charles, 71-year-old heir to throne, tests positive for virus; Queen 'in good health'

From CNN's Max Foster in London

Prince Charles, pictured on March 12 in London. Eamonn M. McCormack/WPA Pool/Getty Images

Prince Charles, the Queen's son and the first in line to the British throne, has tested positive for coronavirus and is now self-isolating in Scotland.

Here's the statement from Clarence House:

“The Prince of Wales has tested positive for coronavirus. He has been displaying mild symptoms but otherwise remains in good health and has been working from home throughout the last few days as usual. 

"The Duchess of Cornwall has also been tested but does not have the virus. In accordance with government and medical advice, the Prince and the Duchess are now self-isolating at home in Scotland. The tests were carried out by the NHS in Aberdeenshire where they met the criteria required for testing.

“It is not possible to ascertain from whom the Prince caught the virus owing to the high number of engagements he carried out in his public role during recent weeks.”

The palace added the Queen "remains in good health."

This post has been updated.