Streets in Ranchi were relatively emptier on Saturday in comparison with the first three days of the lockdown – an indication that awareness about the gravity of the situation and the importance of social isolation was gradually finding buyers in the State capital.

Vegetable markets on Saturday were also less crowded, and even the ones present at the markets maintained safe distance from one another. Vegetable sellers at Morhabadi Bazar said that Bazar was bustling on Thursday and Friday.

However, the number of customers reduced considerably on Saturday. “People were panic-buying on the first three days of the lockdown. Maybe that is why the vegetable markets and grocery shops were overcrowded,” said Bansi Mahato, a vegetable vendor at Morhabadi Ground.

The District Administration has tightened the noose around citizens who tend to violate the lockdown norms and move out of their houses without any genuine purpose. Police personnel deployed across the city dealt with such people with an iron fist on Saturday and ensured that commoners do not move out of their houses. Rakesh Pandey, a police personnel deployed at Harmu Chowk said, “People who have a valid reason to come out of their houses – like buying grocery, medicines or vegetables – are allowed to cross this square. On the first day of the lockdown, many youths came out on bikes, and had to use mild force to force them indoors,” he said.

While many activists are raising concerns over the future of daily wage labourers, the Government has issued phone numbers of different IAS officers to address problems of labourers returning from different States of India.

According to sources working closely with daily wage labourers, the COVID-19 pandemonium has led to return of more than one lakh labourers from across the country to Jharkhand.

 The same facility is also available for Jharkhand labourers who are stuck in other States during the lockdown, a press communiqué from the Government said.Although rail services have come to a standstill during the 21-day lockdown, South Eastern Railways on Saturday sanitised bogies of different passenger trains in a bid to ensure that they are safe for passengers when rail services resume, a press communiqué from South Eastern Railways said.

Railway staff was also provided hand sanitizers and masks on Saturday. Different offices at Railway Stations in Ranchi and Hatia were also sanitised on Saturday, sources said.

Meanwhile, hospitals remained vacant on Saturday. Barring a few patients visiting the Outdoor Patient Department (OPD), there was no major rush at any of the Government hospitals. The fear of getting infected by Coronavirus also kept commoners away from private hospitals in the State capital.

The Government has set up isolation wards in all Government hospitals as well as some private hospitals in Jharkhand.

However, no patients has tested positive for Coronavirus in the State so far. Only suspected patients are being kept in the isolation wards across Jharkhand, health officials said.