Pune APMC Gultekdi Market, city’s largest wholesale market for vegetable, fruits and grains, being sanitised on Saturday.
As lockdown restrictions are being reduced in a phased manner in Pune city and rural areas, local residents need to follow ‘self-discipline’ to keep coronavirus disease (Covid-19) from spreading here, Pune authorities said on Monday.
According to Pune Collector Naval Kishore Ram and Pune Police Commissioner K Venkatesham, it has been observed that some areas, including densely-populated slums, where residents followed self-discipline by practising social distancing, wearing masks, using sanitisers and staying indoors, managed to contain Covid-19 effectively.
“Several areas, which were earlier classified as containment zones, have shed the tag with residents following social distancing norms and guidelines. Self-discipline is the key to coming out of containment zone classification,” said Venkatesham.
Ram said the government’s decision to ease restrictions and slowly open up the city shouldn’t be mistaken as a sign that Covid-19 is not spreading anymore.
“The number of cases is increasing and local residents need to take the utmost precautions. These include staying at home, using masks, using hand sanitisers, careful cleaning and use of community toilets, among other measures,” said Ram.
As the Railways is moving towards resumption of train services across India, Ram said those passengers who arrive at Pune railway station will have to undergo compulsory home quarantine for 14 days. “Only one train from Pune to Danapur has started playing from Monday. We are getting information about the arriving passengers from railway authorities. The arriving passengers will be screened at the stations and advised home quarantine,” said Ram.
The district collector said while home delivery of food items has been allowed in Pune, those placing orders have to collect the food carefully to ensure that infection does not enter their homes through deliveries. “We know of several cases where a person was infected without even leaving the home. This may be via home delivery. One must accept the packets carefully and sanitise them,” said Ram.