Delhi awakes up to lockdown amid rising COVID cases

Early this morning Rajesh Kumar was waiting for a bus, even as Delhiites woke up to a six-day lockdown on Tuesday, as the lockdown till April 26, started at 10 pm on Monday.

Rajesh Kumar is a security guard at AU Small Finance Bank, Harsh Vihar. Kumar must be wondering what the current lockdown, meant only for six days, has in store for him and many others in the national capital.

Rajesh Kumar is no ordinary security guard. Before the launch of the lockdown last year, he owned a factory.  He told Muzzled Voices, “I owned a factory and manufactured parts for generators, but during the first pan-India lockdown I closed down my factory. I joined the private security services and now work as a security guard.”

Kumar, who also got vaccinated today, said that the surge is there, but it doesn't scare him as he worked throughout the 2020-lockdown.

Delhi Chief Minister (CM) Arvind Kejriwal announced the lockdown on Monday, giving people time to prepare for it.

The current lockdown has impacted every section of the society differently. According to the directions by the CM, essential services, medical services, telecommunication services have been exempted from the lockdown. Public places like schools, parks, gymnasia and salons were to be closed.

In North-West Delhi, Jheel Park and Lok Vihar park were observed to be open, with many people and children using the open gymnasium. Older men were sitting in groups, most of them not maintaining physical distance.

On Sunday the number of fresh cases registered were as high as 25,000. On Tuesday, the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi saw a rise of 23, 686 cases according to government records.

Since the weekend lockdown started, Delhi is witnessing yet another exodus of migrant labourers, like it saw last year.

Two rickshaw pullers from Bihar, who decided not return to their native village during this lockdown, share that they did not ride their rikshaws today, as