Police in western India fired tear gas to disperse a stone-pelting crowd of migrant workers defying a three-week lockdown against the coronavirus that has left hundreds of thousands of poor without jobs and hungry, authorities said on Monday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered the country's 1.3 billion people to remain indoors until April 15, declaring such self-isolation was the only hope to stop the viral pandemic.
But the vast shutdown has triggered a humanitarian crisis with hundreds of thousands of poor migrant labourers employed in big cities such as Delhi and Mumbai seeking to head to their homes in the countryside on foot after losing their jobs.
Many have been walking for days, some with families including small children, on deserted highways with little access to food or water.
On Sunday, about 500 workers clashed with police in the western city of Surat demanding they be allowed to go home to other parts of India because they had no jobs left.
“The police tried to convince them that it is not possible since buses or trains are not available...However, the workers refused to budge, and started pelting stones at police,” Surat deputy commissioner of police Vidhi Chaudhari said.
She said the workers, most of them employed in the shuttered textile industry in Surat, were driven indoors by tear gas volleys and on Monday 93 of them were detained for violating lockdown orders.
TIP OF ICEBERG
India has registered 1,071 cases of the coronavirus, of whom 29 have died, the health ministry said on Monday. The number of known cases is small compared with the United States, Italy and China, but health officials say India is weeks away from a huge surge that could overwhelm its weak public health system.
A health official said the large scale movement of people into the countryside risked spreading the coronavirus widely, compounding the challenge of containing the outbreak in the world's second most populous country.
"It's an evolving situation with daily new challenges coming up, like having migratory populations moving from one place to another. Like non-affected states adjoining affected states," said Dr S.K. Singh, director of the National Centre for Disease Control, which investigates and recommends control measures for outbreaks of illness.
In the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, health workers dressed in protection suits sprayed disinfectant on a group of migrant workers who were also trying to make the journey home to their villages, local television showed. They were made to sit on a street corner in the Bareilly district and doused with hose pipes, prompting anger on social media.
Nitish Kumar, the top government official in the district, later said health workers had been ordered to disinfect buses being used by the local authorities but in their zeal they had also turned their hoses onto migrant workers.
"I have asked for action to be taken against those responsible for this," he said in a tweet.
The federal government said on Monday that it had no plans to extend the shutdown beyond the three-week period.
But neighbouring Nepal announced it would prolong its shutdown for another week from Tuesday. The landlocked country has reported only five cases of the virus and no deaths, but it is concerned contagion will spread as more people travel.
Following is data on the spread of the coronavirus in South Asia's eight countries, according to government figures:
* Pakistan has registered 1,625 cases, including 20 deaths.
* India has registered 1,071 cases, including 29 deaths.
* Sri Lanka has registered 122 cases, including one death.
* Afghanistan has registered 128 cases, including 3 deaths.
* Bangladesh has registered 48 cases, including 5 deaths.
* Maldives has registered 28 cases and no deaths.
* Nepal has registered five cases and no deaths.
* Bhutan has registered four cases and no deaths.
Reuters
Mon Mar 30 2020
A migrant worker and his family walk along a road as they return to their village, during a 21-day nationwide lockdown to limit the spreading of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in New Delhi, India, March 30, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui
Freedom Flotilla to Gaza: Ketegasan Malaysia sekat kapal Israel wajar dicontohi
Walaupun usaha itu dilihat kecil namun ia mampu memberi tekanan kepada rejim Zionis dan menjadi contoh kepada komuniti global.
Juruterbang bomba dihantar ke UAE jalani latihan tambahan secara simulasi
JBPM telah diberikan peruntukan sebanyak RM800,000 untuk menghantar kesemua 17 juruterbang ke negara terbabit.
Lebih 14,000 aduan diterima menerusi aplikasi MYJalan setakat ini - Ahmad Maslan
KKR juga telah menyelesaikan 86 peratus daripada 3,766 aduan diterima menerusi aplikasi itu setakat ini.
AWANI Pagi: Apa Erti Sebenar Cakna Autisme?
Bulan Kesedaran Autisme disambut setiap tahun pada bulan April, untuk meningkatkan kesedaran umum berkenaan diagnosis tersebut. Sejauh mana cakna masyarakat mengenai autisme setakat ini? Ikuti diskusinya dalam Awani Pagi 7.30 pagi Khamis bersama Afiezy Azaman & Azib Zikry.
KPT salur bantuan pendidikan, pengecualian yuran IPT anak mangsa nahas helikopter
KPT melalui PTPTN akan menyalurkan sebanyak RM1,000 seorang kepada 21 anak mangsa nahas dua helikopter yang terhempas di Lumut.
[LAPOR LANGSUNG] Freedom Flotilla to Gaza: Kapal sedia belayar Jumaat ini - FFC
FFC mengesahkan sudah melengkapkan segala keperluan bagi membolehkan misi pelayaran Jumaat ini.
Freedom Flotilla to Gaza: Semua keperluan sudah dilengkapkan, kapal sedia belayar Jumaat ini - FFC
Ia termasuk keperluan teknikal dan 'crewing' yang merujuk kepada proses menyediakan dan menguruskan ahli kru.
Freedom Flotilla to Gaza: Ideologi Nelson Mandela wajar dicontohi dalam misi capai keamanan - Cucu
Menurut Manlda Mandela, datuknya pencinta keamanan dan bukan seorang pendendam walaupun selepas berjaya mengalahkan rejim apartheid.
Kontroversi UM: Bukan untuk sekat kebebasan universiti - Zambry
Kebebasan yang diberi perlu mengambil kira polisi serta pendirian kerajaan di samping sensitiviti masyarakat dan majoriti rakyat.
Pelan strategik pendigitalan akan dikemaskinikan selari transformasi digital - Wilson
Pelan strategik pendigitalan akan dikemaskinikan selari dengan transformasi digital, kata Timbalan Menteri Digital Datuk Wilson Ugak Kumbong.
Umat Islam di Bangladesh, India dan Pakistan mula berpuasa pada Selasa
Arab Saudi mengumumkan anak bulan kelihatan pada Ahad dan Isnin merupakan hari pertama Ramadan.
Bangladesh hantar pulang 330 warga Myanmar
Bangladesh menghantar pulang kira-kira 330 warga Myanmar yang mencari perlindungan di negara itu, di tengah-tengah konflik di sempadan.
Menteri Luar India, Bangladesh bincang situasi di Myanmar
Menteri Luar India dan Bangladesh mengadakan perbincangan berhubung situasi di Myanmar.
Lebih ramai Rohingya lari ke Bangladesh susulan pertempuran etnik di Myanmar
Ramai telah menyeberang ke kem pelarian Rohingya di tenggara Cox's Bazar yang menempatkan kira-kira 1.2 juta komuniti Islam dari Myanmar.
Hari pertama 2024, ratusan warga asing di Brickfields 'digempur' Imigresen
Dalam serbuan itu, seramai 370 warga asing telah diperiksa manakala lebih 100 daripada mereka didapati melakukan kesalahan di bawah Akta Imigresen 1959/63.
1,000 polis serbu 'mini Dhaka'
Seramai 1,000 anggota dan pegawai polis dari Pasukan Gerakan Am (PGA) menggempur 'mini Dhaka' di Jalan Silang di sini, pada Khamis.
Runtuhan gudang: Mangsa tiada caruman Perkeso, KSM akan ambil tindakan terhadap majikan
Kegagalan majikan mendaftar dan membayar caruman pekerja asing itu jelas melanggar Seksyen 6, Akta Keselamatan Sosial Pekerja 1969 (Akta 4).
Syarikat Malaysia dapat tawaran RM125 juta melalui misi Matrade ke India, Bangladesh
Syarikat Malaysia telah mendapat tawaran perniagaan bernilai RM125 juta melalui misi pecutan eksport (EAM) baru-baru ini ke India dan Bangladesh.
Berita antarabangsa pilihan sepanjang hari ini
Antara pelbagai berita luar negara yang disiarkan di Astro AWANI, berikut adalah antara yang paling menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari ini.
Laluan kereta api Dohazari-Cox's Bazar dorong pembangunan ekonomi Bangladesh
Upacara perasmian laluan kereta api Dohazari-Cox's Bazar yang dibina dengan kerjasama syarikat China diadakan di sini, pada 11 November.