Lockdown 5.0 or Unlock 1.0? Here's all you need to know.
In our series of conversations about the impact of Covid-19, Amulya speaks to Sanjana Madappa from CUPA, to understand why people continue to abandon their pets.
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Full Text:
Hello. This the daily Covid update from Deccan Herald. I’m Akhil.
On the bulletin today:
Guidelines for Lockdown 5.0 are released, Karnatanaka reports a slight drop in new cases and in our series of conversations looking to the future, we speak to Sanjana Madappa from CUPA to understand how pets and stray animals have been faring during the coronavirus crisis.
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But first, a look at the daily figures...
At the time of this recording, India has over 89,000 active cases in the country and over 5000 deaths.
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The ICMR has tested more than 36 lakh samples for the novel coronavirus so far and more than 1 lakh twenty seven samples in the last 24 hours.
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The much awaited guidelines for Lockdown 5.0 have been released. Activities will be allowed to resume in a phased manner outside containment zones.
In Phase 1, religious places, hotels and restaurants and shopping malls will be allowed to open from June 8th. The Ministry of Health will issue Standard Operating Procedures for all these activities.
In Phase 2, a decision will be taken to re-open educational institutions after consultation with States and Union Territories. Based on the feedback, a decision will be taken in July.
In Phase 3, depending on an assessment of the situation, dates to restart services like international air travel, metro trains, cinema halls, gyms, swimming pools, as well as other large gatherings will be decided.
The night curfew on the movement of individuals will continue between 9.00 pm to 5:00 am throughout the country.
The lockdown will continue in Containment zones until June 30th. These zones will be demarcated by the district authorities. Only essential services will be allowed in these containment zones. Intensive contact tracing, house-to-house surveillance will be followed. District authorities can identify buffer zones where cases are likely to occur and place restrictions as they consider necessary. States and Union Territories can also prohibit certain activities outside containment zones if they consider it necessary.
It is mandatory to wear face covers and maintain physical distancing of 6 feet.
Large gatherings continue to be prohibited. Weddings can have up to 50 guests and 20 persons will be allowed at funerals. Spitting in public places will be punishable with a fine. Consumption of liquor, paan, gutka, tobacco is prohibited in public places.
Workplaces are asked to follow work from home as far as possible and business hours will have to be staggered. All other sanitisation and screening methods will continue to be in force. Employers are asked to make best efforts to use the Arogya Setu app.
There will be no restriction of inter or intra state movement. Separate permits are no longer required. If a state decides to regulate movement, it will have to publicise it widely before placing such restrictions.
Movement of passenger trains, Shramik trains, domestic air travel will continue as per existing standard operation procedure. Goods and cargo operations will not be hampered.
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Moving on to the numbers from Karnataka…
141 new cases were reported from the state today of which 90 cases have domestic travel history.
82 of these cases were returnees from Maharashtra.
Bengaluru Urban reported 33 fresh cases, which is the highest number of cases today. All 18 cases from Yadagiri, 13 cases from Udupi & Dakshina Kannada, 11 cases from Vijayapura, 7 cases from Bidar, and all 4 from Haveri have a travel history to Maharashtra.
Mysuru, Belagavi, Dharwad, Kalaburgi, and Uttara Kannada reported cases from those who had travelled from Maharashtra too.
3 out of 6 cases from Shivamogga have returned from Punjab. 1 person from Kolar had returned from Tamil Nadu.
The source of infection is being traced for 21 new cases in Bengaluru and 1 in Kalaburgi.
The state registered one Covid-19 death today. A 47-year-old woman from Bidar, who was diagnosed with ILI passed away today.
With this, Karnataka has recorded 2,922 cases of the novel coronavirus this year, and 997 patients have been discharged. The state currently has close to 1,900 active cases of which 15 are in the ICU.
The state has tested 15,728 samples in the last 24 hours.
The state has decided to keep all activities open tomorrow, the Sunday curfew has been lifted, KSRTC and BMTC buses will stay functional from 7am to 7pm. All other public transport will also be operational. Shops and commercial establishments will stay open tomorrow.
And, moving on to our conversations looking to the future...Covid - 19 and the subsequent lockdown has also been tough not just for humans, but also for animals. Several animal welfare organisations reported a spike in pets being abandoned due to a fear of transmission of the virus, while for strays, the lack of food was a concern.
My colleague Amulya spoke to Sanjana Madappa from CUPA second chance shelter to ask her how they have been coping during the lockdown.
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Thank you so much Sanjana, for joining us.
Thanks for having me
My first question to you is, how has the past few weeks been to you and the animal welfare community?
So actually when the lockdown was first announced and the covid thing happened, things were lot easier, I think people were scared of coming out and handling being exposed to the covid virus. So we did not see those many dogs being abandoned for the first month. Unfortunately, in the last one month, things have gotten really bad. So we have had about 5 dogs being given up a day, either being abandoned on the road or people calling us and saying that we want to give our dog away.
A lot of it unfortunately has to do with finances. This covid thing has impacted a lot of people economically as well and there are some sections of the society that aren’t able to continue having a dog as part of their lives because of the added expense that means - especially if the dog already has a health issue. So, we have been getting a lot of these calls and like I said, five dogs a day has been our average for the last two weeks.
How has the condition of strays been during the lockdown? How have they been coping?
Ah! That is, yeah (sighs), it was really bad initially - to start with it was very very bad, because a lot of the eateries, a lot of the restaurants, a lot of the people who were feeding them on a regular basis, stopped. And over a week, one-and-a-half week’s time, we saw a lot of strays, a lot of healthy community dogs becoming completely skinny and started looking unhealthy. But the effort that the animal welfare community in Bangalore took, to kind of help the situation was unbelievable. Even corporated pitched in, a lot corporates stepped in to kind of donate funds toward this
Since people have been working from home, many seem to be adopting kittens, puppies...so what is going to happen when these people go back to work?
I think it is the job of the adoption centres and counselors or the individual people who are giving these dogs or pets up for adoption to make sure this particular point very clear: having a pet is not dependant on covid. So just because you’re going to be at home for the next one month and you want company at home where you feel lonely, and you want to have a pet that’s not the condition for it. If you’re going to be adopting, it has to be while understanding that it is a lifetime commitment for the pet. So, you’re looking at 5-10 year commitment depending on the pet.
Has coronavirus had a lasting impact on animal welfare?
(Laughs) I don’t know whether it is better or for the worse, honestly, I know there are lot of people who are thinking twice about buying dogs, because it’s an expense. Also, I do know that a lot of breeders and puppy mills are going out of business, because not everyone is keen on spending 10k-15k on an animal that is going to be a commitment, financial commitment as well. People aren’t keen on doing that. A second shift, a second change in mentality I seem to be seeing is people are becoming a little bit more aware and compassionate. I think that is something that covid has done is shaken people up a little bit, to be aware of what’s happening in your surroundings. So a lot more people, who didn’t want to adopt initially and only buy - a lot of those people are coming back saying we know we have thought about it and we have kind of reevaluated our stance on it and we want to adopt. I’m hoping this will be a lasting effect. I really do hope.
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That's all from us today. For the latest updates, log on to deccanherald.com. Stay safe and we’ll see you on ...Monday.