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After driving through the streets of Coimbatore during the nationwide lockdown and subsequent weeks, it was distressing to see the number of roads cordoned/ blocked and marked “containment zone”, almost in every locality across the city.
The roadblocks or barriers that were placed then, was to restrict movement of vehicles. Now, it is to ward off people from venturing into the marked area.
The rising instance of such roadblocks particularly over the last week to 10 days has become a cause of concern. Anxiety and fear psychosis appears to be looming large among the inhabitants, with the well-to-do ones fleeing to safer haven, while the rest remain confined within their homes.
While there is no confirmed data on the number of containment zones in the city, it is believed to have risen from 8 during the last week of June to 28 (in Corporation limit) as of July 6. And this is besides the 10 containment zones identified in rural areas of the city.
The news does not augur well with the people here as they are generally believed to be sensitive to the happenings around, and said to be more careful.
Meanwhile, the MSME units, which had only recently put their acts together and come to terms with the new normal find themselves in a spot, caught between planning the schedule for the following day and waiting for the worker to report for duty.
“Uncertainty looms large. Planning for the day is a huge effort every morning; we cannot plan for more than a day at a time,” an entrepreneur of micro unit told BusinessLine .
Yet another pointed out that when he thought that things were turning better, the government’s move on withdrawing the public transport system and restricting movement of people (workers) from neighbouring districts forced the units to a “pause” state.
“We are unable to collect our dues from dealers and partners in the neighbouring district; and for the e-pass, we have to approach Chennai and not the District Industries Centre here,” he said.
At the time of filing this report, the number of persons tested positive so far stood at 802, with indigenous cases at 783 and imported cases at 19.
Disclosed active cases stood at 525 and death reported at 5.
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