47% citizens in favour of continuing lockdown till last week of May in districts with COVID-19 cases after April 15th

79% citizens in favour of lockdown relaxation post May 3rd in districts with no active case post April 15th

28th April 2020, New Delhi: The Ministry of Home Affairs issued a notification on April 24th in conjunction with the April 15th notification, permitting all standalone shops and establishments to operate even to sell non-essential items, in districts which lie outside the ‘red or containment zones.

People have been divided in their thinking on how the unlocking of the unprecedented 40-day lockdown should be done. Some people are in favour of complete unlocking while others want a partial unlocking. LocalCircles conducted a survey among citizens to check what are their views on the process of easing the lockdown. The 3-poll survey received more than 24,000 votes from 254 districts across India.

In the first question, citizens were asked for districts with new COVID-19 cases after April 15th, how should the Government of India go about lockdown after May 03rd. 20% said Government should keep them fully locked till May 23rd i.e. for another 20 days while 27% said Government should keep them fully locked till May 31st. 47% said these districts should be unlocked fully post May 03rd but the hotspots within the districts should be kept locked down. Only 5% said they should be fully unlocked post May 3rd.

47% citizens in favour of continuing lockdown till last week of May in districts with COVID-19 cases after April 15th

A month after the nationwide lockdown, the Centre has allowed neighbourhood shops selling both essential and non-essential items in the residential areas to open provided they open only with 50% strength of workers, ensure compulsory wearing of masks and strictly adhere to social distancing norms.

The next question asked for districts with NO new COVID-19 cases after April 15th or NO COVID-19 cases at all till date, how should the Government of India go about lockdown after May 3rd. 7% said such districts should be kept fully locked till May 23rd while 12% said such districts should be kept fully locked till May 31st. 67% said these districts should be unlocked fully post May 3rd but the old hotspots if applicable within the districts should be kept locked down. 12% want the Government to unlock them fully post May 3rd even if there are old hotspots that were identified prior to April 15th.

79% citizens in favour of unlocking districts with no cases or no cases after April 15th; 67% want just old hotspot areas in such districts to still be locked post May 3rd

However, shops in marketplaces and malls will still remain closed till May 3rd, while the relaxations will not be applicable to coronavirus hotspots and containment zones. Citizens believe that the lockdown will have to be carefully lifted with clear segregation between hotspot and non-hotspot areas will have to be made. They also want the Government to ensure that all the containment zones are completely cordoned off.

When asked how should the public transportation (air, rail, inter-city bus) function after May 3rd, 32% said all inter district transportation systems must be kept shut, 29% said only inter district transportation between unlocked districts must be opened, while 34% said all inter district transportation systems must be opened up with travel restrictions imposed only in locked down districts.

This is quite a tricky issue as the top 27 high load cities in the country are also hubs of travel and hence how can a system be designed where intercity public travel can be permitted while using the hub while citizens who reside in that city are still subject to lockdown restrictions. It is like a train going from Amritsar to Jabalpur without stopping at the New Delhi station which may be quite hard to implement and make the route economically unviable.

63% citizens in favour of keeping public transportation systems(air, rail, bus) shut in districts that are kept locked post May 3rd

The survey makes it clear that the collective is in favour of opening the lockdown in all districts with no cases after April 15th while keeping only the hotspots in these districts under lockdown. In districts where there have been active cases after April 15th, people are divided about whether the lockdown should be extended till last week of May or should the lockdown be extended just for hotspots. 47% people are on each side of the argument and the LocalCircles view is that the Government should err on the side of caution, atleast in the 27 high load districts. As far as opening of intercity public transportation systems i.e. air, train and bus travel goes, 63% people are in favour of people are in favour of keeping them shut in districts where the lockdown is extended post May 3rd.

LocalCircles will be submitting the findings of this study to Central and State Governments so as they decide the way forward, the opinion of the collective is taken into consideration.