Staying At Home To Keep Corona Out

Visakhapatnam: Empty streets and roads famous for traffic snarls with no vehicle in sight. Large stretches of shops and markets closed. Offices, educational institutions in city shut. These were the scenes of Visakhapatnam on janata curfew on Sunday.

As people observed the self-imposed curfew in a bid to arrest the spread of Covid-19, they spent time with family, watched films that have been in the watch-list for long, shared meals while maintaining hygienic distance and practiced yoga. Some, finally even picked up a book.

On the other hand, there were many who decided to spend the day trying to help people at this time of need. Students and others joined hands (not literally) and made hand sanitizers and masks for people who need it, but have not been able to procure.

Four students who run a start-up called ROHA Biotech prepared 150 sanitizers and distributed it among traffic police personnel, GVMC sanitation workers, fruit vendors and auto-rickshaw drivers.

Vivek, one such student said, “People need to avoid crowded areas including long queues in medical stores. After we distributed sanitizers to people in public places, we got a call from an old-age home to prepare 5liters of sanitizer. We are following WHO norms in making sanitizers.”

Ravikanth Reddy of Fluentgrid said, “Sanitizers are being sold at exorbitant rates. Hence, we made 25litres of sanitizers for office staff and distributed it.”

Meanwhile, NGOs who work in the city took strides towards working remotely. Chandra Mohan Pasari, member of Junior Chamber International (JCI) said, “We had a training session on how to organise virtual meetings. Over 45 people connected. We learnt a lot of things.”

Many also took their old dusty indoor game sets and settled down to play with family. Bhavesh Kumar, a college student said, “My entire family loves to play carom. However, we haven’t played together in years. Janata Curfew gave us an opportunity.” Anjali Dange, on the other hand, decided to enjoy the leisure without being pressed for time.


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