COVID-19 brings curfew in India's first 'World Heritage City'

Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani on Tuesday announced the imposition of curfew in the walled city of Ahmedabad, better known as India's first "World Heritage City", in view of rising coronavirus cases. These densely populated areas were already under strict lockdown for being the hotspots of the virus spread.

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Out of 650 cases reported till Tuesday evening news bulletin, Ahmedabad alone had 373 positive cases. Out of 28 deaths, 13 patients died in the city which is among the top ten hotspots of the country. There are nearly 20 residential localities which will be impacted due to the curfew.

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"Ahmedabad city has recorded 350 (increased to 373) positive coronavirus cases and to stop the infection further it has been decided to bring the entire walled city and Danilimbda area under curfew from April 15 to April 21. Relaxation will be given only to women to buying essentials such as grocery, medicine, among others, for three hours every day between 1 PM and 4 PM," chief minister Rupani said.

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In the walled city, areas such as Dariapur, 56, Kalupur, 27 and Jamalpur, 26, among others, are the worst hit. Another area which has been put under curfew is Danilimbada where over 40 cases have been detected. Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation officials said that out of 373 cases, nearly 200 have been detected from the walled city areas and Danilimbada alone.

Although these areas were brought under clusters containment strategy by the civic body but, officials said, with entry and exit of these clusters sealed, it could not stop people stepping out of their homes. Lockdown was brought under section 144 of Indian Penal Code that prohibits the gathering of more than 4 people together, but curfew altogether prohibits stepping out of homes.

Earlier in the day, local MLAs from Jamalpur Imran Khedawala, Shahpur MLA Gayasuddin Sheikh and Danilimbda MLA Shailesh Parmar met the chief minister in Gandhinagar where they were informed about the decision and were asked to help the authorities in implementing curfew.

Ahmedabad police commissioner Ashish Bhatia told reporters late in the evening that over 2000 policemen including paramilitary forces including Border Security Force jawans will be deployed in the walled city along with health workers teams. Director-General of Police Shivanand Jha said that "This is a tough decision that has been taken by the government to check the spread of coronavirus."