COVID-19: Villagers in West Bengal quarantine themselves on tree after return from Chennai

Labourers in West Bengal's Purulia district, who have recently returned from Chennai, have quarantined themselves for 14 days on a tree since they do not have a separate room in their houses for isolation amid coronavirus outbreak. All seven, who are in quarantine, were working as labourers in Chennai. Before coming back to their village, they visited doctors who advised them to be in home quarantine for 14 days. Since these labourers did not have separate rooms in their house, they decided to stay on a tree near their village.

Bijoy Sing Laya, one of the labourers, said, "We came from Chennai. We came through Berhampur via vehicle. We are now good here. Doctors have told us to stay under home quarantine for 14 days and maintain distance. But in our house, we do not have personal rooms and our villagers discussed that we can stay here."

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"Now we are on our own, we will be staying here comfortably maintaining all rules. In the morning we are served breakfast here. In the afternoon and evening, we are served with rice. Water is also available here. We also have a stove to boil the water and cook food," he added. These villagers have tied cloth on the tree branches to sit, where they are quarantining amid COVID-19 outbreak.

Coronavirus in India 

With fresh deaths in six states, the death toll from COVID-19 climbed to 25 and the total number of cases to 979 on Sunday, according to the Union Health Ministry. The ministry reported one death each from Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra and Telangana. In its updated data at 10 a.m., the ministry said the number of active COVID-19 cases in the country is 867, while 86 people were either cured or discharged and one had migrated. The overall 979 cases in the country included 48 foreigners, it said.

Maharashtra has reported the highest number of COVID-19 cases so far at 186, including three foreign nationals, followed by Kerala at 182, including eight foreign nationals. Maharashtra also has the highest number of deaths at six followed by Gujarat (4), Karnataka (3), Madhya Pradesh (2), Delhi (2) and one each from Kerala, Telengana, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Punjab, West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.

(With agency inputs) 

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