Quarantine and social distancing are the needs of the hour when it comes to flattening the curve and controlling the spread of the novel coronavirus in India.
But what happens where you simply don’t have enough space to isolate yourself?
Villagers in West Bengal’s Purulia have turned into tree-dwellers of sorts, and intend to spend 14 days perched atop branches and foliage. To give some context, these people, residents of Vangidi village in the Balarampur area of the district have recently returned from Chennai. With there being to separate room in their houses, they now live on trees.
Videos of their temporary residence also shows people sitting quietly on small scaffolding-like structures. They do not appear to be venturing close to each other, each keeping to their small tree platform.
Photos shared on social media by ANI shows what looks like giant mosquito nets or hammocks strung from the branches. One masked individual can be seen sitting on the tree.
West Bengal: Villagers of Vangidi village in Balarampur area of Purulia, who have recently returned from Chennai, have quarantined themselves for 14 days on a tree since they do not have a separate room in their houses for isolation. #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/oHUq0j8RZ8
— ANI (@ANI) March 28, 2020
And while we’re not convinced by the rumours that the novel coronavirus originated from bats, that might have explained quite a bit. After all, the old adage, ‘you are what you eat’ applies to everyone.
In this case however, we have to admire the villagers’ determination to keep themselves isolated, despite what in all probability is a rather uncomfortable fortnight.
West Bengal has so far recorded 15 positive cases for the virus. One person who had tested positive has passed away. Across India, the tally has crossed 900 as of Saturday afternoon.
Five cases were reported from the state on Friday from the same family. This included four females and one male family member. The youngest infected individual is a 9-month-old baby. Two of the others are 6-years-old and 11-years-old while there are other two women — aged 45 and 27 years old.