India’s villagers flout virus rules saying it has ‘weakened’
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Baihata Chariali/Karalapakkam — Harmahan Deka doesn’t wear a mask anymore to avoid the coronavirus, nor does he try to keep a safe distance from others.
For the 25 men and women he works with in his construction materials business near the small town of Baihata Chariali in India’s Assam state, life is more or less as it used to be.
“The virus can’t attack me, it’s weakened,” the 50-year-old diabetic said. “I often hang out at a busy neighbourhood grocery store — without masks, nothing. Both the store owner and I are fine. Maybe we’ve had it already without symptoms.”
In two dozen small towns and villages visited in recent weeks, people have largely given up on social-distancing and masks after months of sticking to the rules, believing the virus is not such a serious threat.
The change in behaviour in rural India — where two thirds of its 1.3-billion people live, often with only the most basic health facilities — has come as infections in the countryside have surged. Health officials are exasperated.
“Sometimes people take it too lightly, as if nothing will happen to them just because they’re breathing fresh air and eating fresh vegetables,” said Rajni Kant, a member of a rapid response team of the state-run Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) set up to fight the pandemic. “Health infrastructure is poor in rural areas, that’s why they have to strictly follow social-distancing norms, wear masks, avoid crowded areas and keep washing hands. Otherwise they’ll suffer.”
But for many villagers, it seems the reality has not hit home as they’ve not seen the virus kill anyone they know.
Deka in Assam, for example, said he’d not heard of any deaths or even infections. He said that made him confident that some sort of herd immunity had been reached.
But the numbers tell a different story.
More than 2.3-million people have been infected with the coronavirus in India, the third highest number in the world after the US and Brazil, and more than 46,000 have died.
Besides the impact on public health, the spread of the virus in the countryside could dash hopes for what the central bank projects will be a “robust” recovery of the rural economy, buoyed by good rains for summer crops.
‘Not going out’
In a sign of how the virus is infiltrating the countryside, the share of infections of the top three ...
For the 25 men and women he works with in his construction materials business near the small town of Baihata Chariali in India’s Assam state, life is more or less as it used to be.
“The virus can’t attack me, it’s weakened,” the 50-year-old diabetic said. “I often hang out at a busy neighbourhood grocery store — without masks, nothing. Both the store owner and I are fine. Maybe we’ve had it already without symptoms.”
In two dozen small towns and villages visited in recent weeks, people have largely given up on social-distancing and masks after months of sticking to the rules, believing the virus is not such a serious threat.
The change in behaviour in rural India — where two thirds of its 1.3-billion people live, often with only the most basic health facilities — has come as infections in the countryside have surged. Health officials are exasperated.
“Sometimes people take it too lightly, as if nothing will happen to them just because they’re breathing fresh air and eating fresh vegetables,” said Rajni Kant, a member of a rapid response team of the state-run Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) set up to fight the pandemic. “Health infrastructure is poor in rural areas, that’s why they have to strictly follow social-distancing norms, wear masks, avoid crowded areas and keep washing hands. Otherwise they’ll suffer.”
But for many villagers, it seems the reality has not hit home as they’ve not seen the virus kill anyone they know.
Deka in Assam, for example, said he’d not heard of any deaths or even infections. He said that made him confident that some sort of herd immunity had been reached.
But the numbers tell a different story.
More than 2.3-million people have been infected with the coronavirus in India, the third highest number in the world after the US and Brazil, and more than 46,000 have died.
Besides the impact on public health, the spread of the virus in the countryside could dash hopes for what the central bank projects will be a “robust” recovery of the rural economy, buoyed by good rains for summer crops.
‘Not going out’
In a sign of how the virus is infiltrating the countryside, the share of infections of the top three ...
