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India on Monday reported its biggest single-day jump in cases of COVID-19, overtaking Iran to become one of the 10 worst-hit nations. Meanwhile, the government allowed domestic air travel to restart on Monday amid confusions.
India reported another 6,977 cases, taking its total to 138,845, according to government data, despite the world's longest lockdown, which was imposed in March by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Total deaths have passed 4,000.
A member of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) talks with a passenger through a glass shield at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport, in New Delhi, India, May 25, 2020. /Reuters
The rise in new cases came as some businesses and travel reopened under a new phase of the national coronavirus lockdown.
Some passengers and crew members scheduled to board a flight on Monday at New Delhi airport said the mood at the terminal was somber as security forces implemented strict social distancing norms and passengers donned masks.
But new restrictions at major airports, including Mumbai and Chennai, forced airlines to scramble late on Sunday to revise schedules.
The confusion will make it even harder for airlines to recover from the impact of a two-month lockdown to contain the novel coronavirus that has already cost tens of millions of dollars in lost revenue, industry executives, lawyers and analysts said.
"The entire handling of the restart has been reduced to a farce, causing pain for airlines, airports, and passengers," an industry executive said to the Reuters.
"Flying to meet my family almost feels like I am entering a war zone, it's the mask and gloves that add to the stress," said Subham Dey, an engineer traveling to the north-eastern state of Assam.
Passengers wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) enter Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai, India, May 25, 2020. /Reuters
Indian Railways also said it would run an additional 2,600 special trains in the next 10 days to help nearly 3.5 million stranded migrant workers get to their homes.
The sudden lockdown announced on March 24 left millions of migrant labourers in the lurch with little other option but to walk to reach home, sometimes more than 1,000 kilometres.
Tens of thousands daily wage laborers have lost their jobs in cities, or left because they were scared to live in urban slum districts that have reported high rates of infections in the last two months.
More than 100 of them have also died – either in accidents or through sheer exhaustion on their way back home.
(REUTERS)
