The Pandemic Story

March 22: PM Modi Announces 1-day Lockdown (Janta Cerfew)

In a televised speech to the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announces that the entire country will be in a complete lockdown for 1 day. He said it was not a curfew, but, given the seriousness of the matter, it should be treated as no less.

And It Was Just A Start To Crisis That We All Are Unaware With

Pandemic due to this virus is attacking various sectors of societies at their core

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March 25: Mass movement by migrants Begins

The 21-day lockdown announced by Narendra Modi on March 24 to try to contain the coronavirus. Pandemic has severely hurt India’s migrant workers. As their jobs in the cities evaporated and left with no money to buy food, many decided to head back to their home villages. But rail and road transport links shut, lakhs of migrant workers began walking back to their homes, sometimes braving journeys that were hundreds of kilometers. Many died.

“Inthe rising heat, Goutam Lal Meena had walked on macadam in his sandals. He said he had survived on water and biscuits. In Gujarat, Mr Meena earned up to 400 rupees a day and sent most of his earnings home. The shutting down of all transport meant that he was forced to travel on foot. "I walked through the day and I walked through the night. What option did I have? I had little money and almost no food," Mr Meena told.

He

was not alone.

All over India, millions of migrant workers are fleeing its shuttered cities and trekking home to their villages. These informal workers are the backbone of the big city economy, constructing houses, cooking food, serving in eateries, delivering takeaways, cutting hair in salons, making automobiles, plumbing toilets and delivering newspapers, among other things.

Pandemic Causes Migration and Unemployment

• Others on the road included a five-year-old boy who was on a 700km journey by foot with his father, a construction worker, from Delhi to their home in Madhya Pradesh state in central India. "When the sun sets we will stop and sleep," the father told to one of the journalist.

• Another woman walked with her husband and two-and-a-half year old daughter, her bag stuffed with food, clothes and water. "We had a place to stay but no money to buy food," she said.

“For India, the report estimates job loss for 4.1 million youth. Construction and agriculture have witnessed the major job losses among seven key sectors,”

• Wanting to go home in a crisis is natural. Not only labors, but students, tourists, pilgrims stranded overseas want to return their native places.

Shramik Special trains start in Centre's bid to ferry stranded migrant workers to their native states amid the Covid-19 lockdown.

Source: Jan Saahas Survey (2020).

Unemployment- Job Loss

• India's massive work force is being hit hard by coronavirus. As many as millions salaried jobs have been lost between April and August.

• The job losses cross sectors and skill levels, and include services, manufacturing and industry, and white-collar jobs also.

• "I was asked to go on leave in May during the pandemic because there was no work in the real estate sector. A month later, I was fired," 27-year-old Rohit Kansal, a sales executive, told.

• Hospitality, aviation, media, entertainment and automobile parts manufacturers are among the sectors seeing the most job cuts.

• "I have had to acquire new skills, although my main strength is engineering. Now, I have taken a drastic pay cut and work in the communications department," Manas Kumar, an employee at an automobile company, told.

• The informal economy is also feeling the heat with thousands of small-scale traders and hawkers shutting shop.

Employment Schemes during Pandemic

April 14: Centre extends lockdown till May 3

April 29: 1,000 confirmed deaths recorded May 4: Lockdown 3.0

India's total number of coronavirus cases has jumped, and death toll continuously increasing in the country.

Biggest-ever spike in the number of cases and deaths in a single day.

These all leads us towards various unwanted situations (Social and Physiological issues)

Service sector is not being able to provide their proper service.

Avoiding the national and international travelling and cancellation of services

Disruption of celebration of cultural, religious and festive events

Cancellation or postponement of large-scale sports and tournaments

Social distancing with our peers and family members

Closure of the hotels, restaurants and religious places

Closure of places for entertainment such as movie and play theatres, sports clubs, gymnasiums, swimming pools, and so on

Undue stress among the population

Postponement of examinations

Psychological Issues-

• Lots of stress due to low or no income , especially for LIGs.

• A sense of threat, for example- Walking on street and watching people wear masks creates a psychological impact that the person may be and infected person.

• In shops, shopkeeper asking you to keep distance and not touch anything creates a different effect on your mind.

• Due to low income and disconnection with peers, it has also resulted in increase in abuse cases, domestic violence cases, theft cases.

• In labour classes, where there is no sort of online work, the impact was the most severe.

• More and more use of Social Media also depresses people.

• Closing down of entertainment and Leisure spaces like restaurants, cinema halls, malls, parks etc ends scope of refreshments.

• For people in cities who have migrated, being apart from family and also unable to meet colleagues, friends in person could be a problem (specially for people with weak mental health).

For people (particularly in villages), physical gatherings were stopped abruptly which is a part of their day-to-day lives.

• Doubting our own family members or friends of being infected raises a bar of insecurity.

• There is no other option for people than to organise social gatherings on online platforms, which everyone is not familiar with.

• Pandemic has suddenly forced us to change our lifestyle and habits that we are acquainted with all our lives, and this change is inevitable.

Social Activities (we generally see around) Gets Affected

May 20: Cyclone Amphan causes chaos in West Bengal

May 31: India records 5,000 deaths

June 1: India is now the 7th-most-infected country

The fifth phase of the coronavirus-induced lockdown begins, even as India continues to witness a dramatic rise in the number of Covid-19 cases. India is now the 7th-most-infected country, has the 4th-highest number of active cases globally, and second highest number of serious active cases. Delhi government has decided to seal its borders.

Where you live in the world, dramatically affects your access to essential health services (Health Care Scenarios)

• Challenges in the diagnosis, quarantine and treatment of suspected or confirmed cases.

• High burden of the functioning of the existing medical system.

• Patients with other disease and health problems are getting neglected.

• Overload on doctors and other healthcare professionals, who are at a very high risk.

• Overloading of medical shops.

• Requirement for high protection. • Disruption of medical supply chain.

“Kuldeep Kumar has been in a fit of rage since he lost his mother last weekend. The family had to fight tooth and nail to get Ranbiri Devi treatment for cancer and COVID-19, as most hospitals denied her admission. When after a long struggle, the family finally managed to get a hospital bed, she died due to the delay in treatment.”

• The medical facilities had to expand the infrastructure to accommodate COVID Care.

• Needed large scale production of masks , gloves , ppe.

• the research on other diseases and medical topics was halted.

• Doctors and Medical workers were most exposed to the virus, many lost their lives.

Women with Gynaecological problems require extra care which seemed to be disturbed during the pandemic due to reasons like

1. If family members were migrants , they were stuck at some other places.

2. Help from neighbours and friends could not be taken easily due to social distancing.

3. All medical care units in small towns were converted to COVID Care units , hence facilities required for Women during Pregnancy and for other people for other diseases were unavailable.

June 8: Unlock 1.0

June 11: India surpasses the UK to become the fourth-worst hit nation

July 1: India enters Unlock 2.0

August 1: Phase 3.0 of Unlock comes into force

India's total number of coronavirus cases has exceeded the 36,00,000-mark. Around 1,00,000 people have died from the fatal disease.

Worldwide lockdown affects every single sector which leads to Economic Setbacks and Development Challenges

• The country is expected to see GDP contraction.

• Crores of jobs across formal and informal sectors have been lost.

• There have been layoffs and pay cuts all around.

• Import and exports get down.

• No more money rotations.

COVID-19 pushing urban planners to think aloud about redesigning more resilient cities.

Each city is trying hard and its best to cope with COVID-19 implications. The urban buzz is paused, reducing economic productivity, sociability, and mobility.

The pandemic has exposed the vulnerability of the cities—the readiness and preparedness of each city in dealing with pressures of healthcare, economy, and climate is loud and clear in everyday headlines.

It has led to a new way of working, connecting and moving —

Remote working—With the majority of the world in some form of lockdown, many organizations could operate efficiently after embracing a work from home culture— this trend is likely to impact office design, office space demand, transport, and further city design. Many organizations are now beginning to think if and how this concept can become some form of strategy.

Suburban revival—We have seen how flexible working, virtual connection, and less travel proved to benefit. If this trend stays for long, the suburbs could no longer be just residential places and there could be potential to have more mixed-use development with home offices. If most people will work from home, questions about why we live in the city might come up soon.

Social behavior—With new trends emerging in how we work and live, social behaviors are taking a change. We do see mental health and loneliness increasing. While at the same time, we are also connecting with each other more personally. The meetings are being done in home environments. We are aware that built infrastructure can have an impact on social behaviors, and hence all these signs are crucial in designing new spaces. Active transport—If the spotlight on bikes and walkability continues, the cities would need a proper infrastructure. Currently, many cities have engaged in redesigning for aligning themselves with this trend.

E-commerce—Online retail has not just saved a part of the sector, but also shaped consumer habits that have a higher potential of long-lasting effect. In line with this, more logistics hubs and stores can potentially arise.

Virtual mobility—This has gone beyond the office meetings. Big international events/ political meetings/online initiatives by museums and art galleries—it is all happening virtually. The thought that the purpose of the meeting can be solved using technology is going to impact many related sectors.