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Bengaluru, Mar 25: Bengaluru Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao on Wednesday called a meeting of online, e-commerce food, medicine, groceries or animal products delivery aggregators at his office in wake of situation arising out of lockdown imposed in the entire country due to coronavirus epidemic.

The Police Commissioner has appealed one representative from each agency to join him in the meeting at 7 pm.

"I have called a meeting of online, e-commerce food, medicine, groceries, vegetables/fruits or animal products delivery aggregators today at 7 pm at my office at Infantry Road, Bengaluru," said Rao.

"One representative from each agency may please come. We promise all cooperation, please come," he said.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Wednesday confirmed 539 positive cases of coronavirus in the country.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Tuesday announced a 21-day lockdown in the entire country effective from midnight to deal with the spread of coronavirus, saying that "social distancing" is the only option to deal with the disease, which spreads rapidly.

Hubballi, Mar 25: The people living in rural areas of North-Karnataka region have become more aware about deadly Corona virus as they are leaving no stone unturned to prevent people of Bengaluru and other metropolitan cities from entering into their villages. People have put thorny plants on all roads at the outskirts connecting their villages and deployed youths to conduct patrolling round the clock till next 21 days.

Their motto is to prevent their own villagers getting infected from the outsiders especially from cities like Bengaluru and other two-tier cities where positive virus cases are on the rise. They have also take precautionary measures in the wake of Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa's call to the people to return to their native places.

Several people have also dug up the roads leading to their villages to block the entry of outside vehicles. They have put a condition to the outsiders to enter into their villages only after proper health check-up to confirm that they are not infected with Corona positive.

"We don't have access to the proper medical care if Corona virus is entered into our village. The Primary Health Centres are not functioning properly and these centers are facing lack of adequate staff and medical equipments unlike in big cities.Therefore, those who have deserted our village to employ in various jobs in Bengaluru and other cities should confirm that they are tested negative for the virus", said Mallikarjun Patil of Kudal village in Hangal taluk of Haveri district. The village has totally banned the outsiders into their village and warned their fellow villagers to return immediately if they have visited to their relatives' homes in neighboring villages to observe 21-day lockdown.

Hundreds of youths in Itanal village of Chikkodi taluk of Belagavi have also resorted to similar tactics and patrolling in all roads at the outskirts by holding sticks to prevent outsiders from entering into their village until April 14.

People of Hunagunti village in Ron taluk and Kotamuchagi village in Gadag taluk have also adopted similar plan by parking tractors at th outskirts to prohibit the entry of outsiders. They have also created awareness in their villages by beating drums urging the people not to venture outside village for next three weeks.

The police officials have resorted to lati-charge at various places in urban areas when people gathered in large numbers to buy essential commodities.

New Delhi, Mar 29: "What corona? My children are hungry, they have walked from Gurugram with me do you think corona is what I fear?," Yogesh Gangwar who is salesman in a cloth showroom said as he wiped his tears.

Many others regret for not leaving the city early on.

"God knows when we will reach our hometown. My family was telling me to leave work early in March and get back, but I avoided suggestions and now I am stranded here," Babu Ram who hails from Rampur and works at a plastic recycling factory here in Mundka told media.

Migrant labourers were forced to walk as the public transport were closed and borders were sealed due to the lockdown.

"There is no food to eat, I cannot pay rent of room without my daily wages so I decided to walk with my family from Narela to here. I just hope I get a bus soon," Revati, who works as construction labour said as she fed her three-year-old with pieces of bread that one of the policemen at Anand Vihar gave her.

However, when Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in Uttar Pradesh decided to deploy around 1,000 buses to help these workers reach their respective hometowns, thousands of them reached Anand Vihar ISBT with a hope to catch one of these buses.

The Delhi government also announced that 100 buses have been deployed to help those trying to reach to their homes in other states on foot.

In order to avoid the spread of the virus, the police asked the people to stand in three queues and also asked the people to de-board the overcrowded buses.

Earlier, budget passenger carrier SpiceJet had offered its aircraft to operate few flights from Delhi and Mumbai to Patna to take migrant labourers, particularly from Bihar, who have got stuck in various parts of the country due to COVID-19 related lockdown.