As The Number Of Coronavirus Cases Continue To Rise, India Is Looking At A Real Shut Down

So far we in India have only heard about how countries including China and Italy quite literally locked up its citizens to prevent the spread of the coronavirus outbreak. It has been proven to be effective in the countries that have implemented it and more and more countries are taking the extreme step as Covid-19 shows no signs of slowing down.

With more than a hundred cases confirmed across the country so far and more and more surfacing each passing day, as scary as it may sound, India could be looking at a real situation where the country of 1.3 billion is under lockdown due to Coronavirus.

Though it still sounds like an exaggeration or being alarmist, the signs of an impending shutdown are all over the place. We have already locked ourselves out to the rest of the world since last week after the government suspended visas to curb incoming traffic and advised against all non-essential travel abroad which also curbs outgoing travel.

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This meant that all visas, including those already issued and e-visas, stand cancelled till April 15. This apart, several states have announced shutdowns of their own to control the outbreak.

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Kerala, which has the second-highest number of Covid-19 cases was one of the first states to do so. All schools in the state have been shut, and the government has put restrictions on public gatherings including religious events and weddings. While shops and public transport continue to operate for now there is a growing fear that there could be restrictions on them too in the coming days.

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Movie halls and all major tourist spots in the state are also shut for the foreseeable future. Unlike other states, Kerala has made 14-day home isolation mandatory for everyone entering the state, be it by air, rail or road.

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In neighbouring Karnataka, the government on Friday ordered the shutdown of malls, theatres, all educational institutes and commercial establishments for a week. All exams have also been postponed and IT employees have been asked to work from home. Only banks, hospitals, Pharmacy shops, vegetable and milk shops, restaurants and small shops will remain open. Metro, train and public buses will also function as normal.

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In Tamil Nadu too there is a near-total shutdown-like situation with the government announcing the closure of educational institutions, cinema theatres, malls, amusement parks, and bars till March 31.

Maharashtra which has recorded the most number of Covid-19 cases too has gone into a partial shutdown with the government ordering all theatres, gyms, swimming pools and auditoriums in Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad and Nagpur where infected patients were found to be shut from midnight on Friday.

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In Delhi, the government declared COVID-19 an epidemic and announced shutting down of schools, colleges and cinema halls gyms, museums, cultural and social centres, and swimming pools till March 31.

Haryana too has banned mass gatherings and gatherings of more than 200 people will be prohibited in all religious, social, political, cultural, sports and personal and family events in the State. Cinema halls, gyms, swimming pools, theatres, clubs, and nightclubs will also remain closed across Haryana till March 31.

AFP

On Tuesday, the government announced that all the public monuments and museums ¡ª including the iconic Taj Mahal and Red fort shut till the end of this month. "All ASI monuments and central museums will be shut till March 31 in view of the spread of coronavirus. We are taking this very seriously," Union Culture Minister Prahlad Patel announced.

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There are nearly 3,700 monuments and sites under the Archeological Survey of India. This only the third time in history that the historic monument Taj Mahal has been closed. During the 1971 war with Pakistan, the /trending/on-donald-trumps-arrival-300-year-old-taj-mahal-tomb-are-getting-a-clean-up-507014.html /trending/on-donald-trumps-arrival-300-year-old-taj-mahal-tomb-are-getting-a-clean-up-507014.html was closed for more than a week. During the flood in 1978, it was again closed for a couple of days.

And with more restrictions likely to be announced in the coming days, it is just a matter of time before the shutdown is officially upon us.