In India, a second wave of Covid-19 calls for a new exodus

NEW DELHI – As dawn breaks over Mumbai, India, Kaleem Ansari sits among a crowd of thousands outside Central Train Station, waiting for his train to pull over. Ansari, a factory worker, carried old clothes in his backpack and 200 rupees – not quite $ 3 – in his pocket.

His factory, which makes sandals, has just closed. Mumbai was stuck while a second wave of coronavirus swept through India. Mr. Ansari, originally from a small town nearly a thousand kilometers away, was in Mumbai a year ago when it was first closed, and he promised not to suffer another one.

“I remember what happened last time,” he said. “I just have to get out of here.”

Cities in India once again stall to fight Covid-19 – and workers flock back and forth to rural areas, fearing health experts fear the virus could spread and destroy poorly equipped towns, as in the past time. Thousands flee hotspots in cities while India still holds a record, with more than 184,000 daily new infections. Bus stations are crowded. Crowds increase at train stations.

And at at least some of their destinations, according to local officials and migrants who have already undertaken the journey, they arrive almost not ready to test arrivals and quarantine the sick.

“We are less prepared,” said K. Srinath Reddy, president of the Public Health Foundation of India, who was part of the national task force Covid-19. “The speed and scale catch us off balance.”

India is in danger of repeating the traumatic mass movement that took place last year after it applied one of the world’s most difficult national exclusions, eliminating millions of jobs virtually overnight. The closure has fueled the most disruptive migration to the Indian subcontinent since it was split in two in India and Pakistan in 1947. Tens of millions of low paid migrant workers and their families flee cities by train, bus, truck, bicycle, even with blistered feet to reach hometowns hundreds of miles away, where the cost of living was cheaper and they could be helped and helped by loved ones.

Hundreds were killed on the sweltering highways. Even more are dead at home. The migration also played an important role in the spread of the virus, as local officials in remote districts reported being inundated with disease.

This time, the Indian government did not lock up the whole country. But the cities of India are increasingly maintaining restrictions such as the lockdown, which means the tide of migrant workers is likely to worsen. Authorities are reluctant to use the word lockdown – like shouting ‘fire’! in a crowded theater – but they are getting stricter.

On Tuesday night, for example, the state government of Maharashtra, which includes Mumbai, banned public bans and ordered most businesses to close for the next two and a half weeks.

The authorities had little choice, say health experts. New daily infections exceed the heights of the first wave. Per capita testing is far behind in the United States or other Western countries, so the actual number of new infections is likely to be many times higher.

The official death toll is rising, although it is still low compared to the United States and elsewhere. In the city of Surat, on the west coast, the cremation grounds have been so relentless for the past few days that some of the iron frames on which the bodies were placed have melted. In Chhattisgarh, a rural state in central India, mortuaries have overflowed with decomposing corpses.

With the closure of the virus, many people decided to flee.

“I did not want to get sick alone,” said Ajay Kumar, a mobile phone cover provider who left for Bangalore last weekend for a village in Jharkhand state. ‘In Bangalore, things are getting worse. And my wife said, ‘Business is not that good. Why are you not coming back? ”

“We are at least together,” he said. Kumar said.

The full extent of India’s ability to monitor migration is not clear. But in some places, the sudden rush of migrants seems to surprise local officials. The lack of preparation seems to reflect the greater feeling that this country, whether due to fatigue or familiarity, was more nonchalant during this second wave than during the first one.

Last year, officials in the large eastern state of Bihar, which supplies millions of workers to other parts of India, intercepted migrants when they arrived at train stations. They were checked for the virus and sent to mandatory two-week quarantine, whether or not they had symptoms to avoid mixing with uninfected villagers.

This time, the migrants from cities like Mumbai – where the positive percentage of Covid-19 recently gained 30 percent – simply got off trains or buses and walked into their communities, said Nafees Ahmad Sheikh, a cafe worker who left Mumbai last week said, and two other recent arrivals.

Mr. Sheikh left after rumors of an impending closure began to spread. He said the train he took was full of migrant workers and people traveling for a short festival period. Some migrant workers locked themselves in the train’s bathroom to prevent them from paying for the tickets because they ran out of money.

“The rich can handle another closure, but what will the poor do?” Mr. Sheikh said. He said he would rather die in his hometown than in a city “that treats us like disposable items.”

Some officials said that migrants arriving at train stations were subjected to temperature control and that those who were symptomatic were sent for further tests or to quarantine centers. But one official said few of the centers actually function because many of the contractors they set up last year are still unpaid and do not want to get involved again.

Chanchal Kumar, an official in the office of Bihar’s prime minister, said infections “started to increase after workers started returning.”

“We try to reduce the damage every day,” he said.

The central government of India sends mixed messages. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has a huge bullying chair, asked Indians last year to stay indoors. The roads cleared and an incredible silence sank across the country of 1.4 billion. When Mr. Modi asking people to stand on their porches and hit pots and pans in solidarity with health workers, they did too.

This time, although he is asking people to be careful and maintain social distance, Mr. Modi large political rallies in states where his party competes in elections. His party is asking people to gather thousands.

The vaccination of India is progressing slowly. So far, only about 8 percent have been vaccinated. Only this week did the government approve the use of imported shots. Until then, the government has relied on two indigenously manufactured vaccines that are declining rapidly.

Few of the migrants talk about vaccines. They just want to get home.

Mr. Ansari was waiting for his train at Mumbai Central Train Station on Wednesday morning. The city has not yet shut down public transportation.

The last time it did. Mr. Ansari said there was no more money and that the police constantly beat him when he dared to look for food. He went down to eat one small bowl of rice a day, he said, fearing he would starve.

“I do not even like to talk about what happened last time,” he said. “Nobody cares about us, not here or there.”

Karan Deep Singh contribution made.