The number of new cases in West Bengal on Saturday was 108 (AFP)
The City of Joy is now the city of containment zones. From north to south, large parts of Kolkata are barricaded with residents unable to get in or out. Burra Bazar, eastern India's biggest trading centre, may be shut down as it is proving to be a key area of the coronavirus spread. The number of new cases in West Bengal on Saturday was 108, a little less than Friday's 130, which was the highest spike in a day. Eleven people have died in the last 24 hours.
From 227 containment zones last week, the number rose to 319 this week. Indian Museum, one of Kolkata's showpieces, fell to the coronavirus. A Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) jawan living in the barracks inside the museum compound died on Thursday. Thirty of his colleagues have been sent to quarantine.
Round the street from the museum, there is Park Street, free of containment, but deserted and all shutters down except at a high-end grocery store where there is a bit of a queue. The customers waiting for their turn to enter the shop know they are lucky.
"This area is not a containment zone, thankfully. But it worries me, the growing numbers in the city. What adds to my worries is we don't know really how much danger we are in," said a university student in the queue. "The government should be transparent," she added.
Eleven people have died in the 24 hours till Saturday due to coronavirus in West Bengal
"Certain things are beyond anyone's control. Who did this? We guys have done it. Let's forget it. We have to control it. It will increase unless we stay at home," said another customer, a gentleman who hastened to add he had come to shop after a week.
At Bura Bazar, Kolkata's trading hub, numerous narrow lanes are barricaded off Chitpore Road. That's where all its supplies arrive from across the country in trucks. The mayor has identified it as a zone with the worst spread, possibly from drivers and their helpers.
"If people keep coming in trucks from outside the city, you can't check the virus," said Mayor Firhad Hakim. "We have asked the police to find a location for the trucks outside the city limits, where they can park and unload goods," the Mayor said.
For the police on the fringes of the city, anyone could be a COVID-19 carrier and everyone is being checked for permits to cross over. Howrah bridge has posted policemen at both ends, and there is strict checking on the Kolkata side. Howrah is after all a red zone and has seen a growing number of containment zones.
Testing in Bengal has jumped from about 250 a day a month ago to over 3,000 now. And the percentage of positive cases from all the samples tested on Saturday was 4.54 per cent, a little less than Friday's 4.69 per cent. The drop is minute but every per cent down means dozens of lives saved.