NEW DELHI: Wearing a self-made cloth mask, 26-year-old Madan Prajapati gawps at the police team guarding a building across the street in southwest Delhi's Kapashera where 41 migrant laborers had tested positive for coronavirus in mid-April.
Prajapati, who hails from Uttar Pradesh's Maharajganj district, came to Delhi just three months ago in search of work and rented a room in a building in the area for Rs 3,000 a month.
Like him, hundreds of migrant laborers, who work in companies in Gurgaon in Udyog Vihar, reside in 50 such congested buildings with cramped 8X10 sq.feet rooms served by common toilets for men and women on every floor.
Most of these families have been waiting for the government to lift the lockdown so that they could either return or resume their work, Prajapati says.
"Do you have any idea when the bus service for Uttar Pradesh will begin?" he asks, expressing fear that others may also contract the deadly disease if they continue to stay here.
"It is hard to follow social distancing norms in such cramped buildings, with so many families sharing common toilets. If one catches the virus, it is bound to spread," he says.
The building in the Theke Wali Gali where 41 people have tested positive for COVID-19 since April 18, mostly migrants, is a two-story structure with 60 rooms occupied by 160 people, a police official said.
Some of these single rooms are occupied by not less than five people, he said. And with common toilets and cramped rooms, families find it difficult to maintain physical distance.
Keeping in mind the high population density, the district administration sealed the building, hardly 100 meters from the district magistrate (southwest) office, and declared it a containment zone on April 19.
Samples of residents from the building were collected and sent to the National Institute of Biologicals in Noida.
Of these, 41 returned positive for COVID-19 on Saturday. The police have erected three layers of barricades to prevent the entry of outsiders in the area, except the sanitation workers and medical staff, who have been taking care of the quarantined people.
Around 25 police personnel from Kapashera police station have been guarding the two entry points to the area at any given time.
A policeman on duty said they have been working in eight-hour shifts and have been exercising utmost caution.
"Those venturing near the building make sure they wear personal protective equipment kits and keep a good distance even with their colleagues," he said.
The policemen deployed at the containment zone have not been visiting their homes and instead of staying at an isolation facility provided to them.
"It is been a week since I visited my family. I stay nearby here in the Najafgarh area but after our duty hours, we return to the isolation facility provided to us. We sanitize ourselves and every other belonging as soon as we return post duty," he added.
Besides maintaining law and order, the policemen have also been tasked to facilitate the needs of the people living in the containment zone.
A WhatsApp group has been created which has SHO Kapashera, district officials and a few residents of the area wherein they share their concerns.
From providing medicines to supplying dry ration and packed foods, police personnel has been playing an essential role in facilitating the needs of people in the coronavirus-containment zones.
Contact numbers of shopkeepers, medical stores, and other essential service providers have also been shared with the people in the containment zone.
The supplies are delivered at the entry point, from where policemen deliver them to the intended persons. The day the first case of Coronavirus was reported from the building, fear gripped the people who work at a petrol pump, which is hardly 100 meters away.
"We don't know who we come in contact with since people from different places come here. We don't even know if any of the residents of the sealed building had even visited us recently. It is risky. Ideally, the administration should have taken samples OF everyone in one-kilometer radius," said 23-year-old Sunny Kumar, who works at the petrol pump.
There are around 50 such buildings inhabited by migrant workers. Most have multiple rooms on every floor with common washrooms. In many cases, 10 people share a single room. The balconies and corridors are also congested, according to Kumar.
Sanitization exercises have been carried out in the area but the authorities should also collect samples from everyone, he said.
"What's scary is that samples were taken 13 days ago and we got to know of the cases just yesterday which means the virus may have spread," he said.
As a preventive measure, the petrol pump staff have been sending away customers who don't wear masks and prefer online transactions.
"We are eight staff working here. Ever since the lockdown was announced, we have been living here. Whoever the customer maybe, if he or she is found not wearing a mask, we don't allow them to enter the premises. We tell them we don't have petrol left for supply and send them away right from the entry point," said 35-year-old Rishi Pal.
Pal also recalls how some good samaritans used to distribute food to the needy in the area for a few days, but even that has discontinued after the building was sealed.
"Many laborers used to stand in queues, maintaining distance with each other while collecting food in the presence of police personnel. But after the building was sealed, those who visited a few times here to distribute food have also stopped coming," he said.