Rajesh Babu , a law military officer in Chennai , India , has start wear a helmet while enforcing a lockdown of the country ’s 1.3 billion people . But it ’s not just any helmet . Babu ’s headgear is designed to look like the new coronavirus , which have the disease covid-19 . And it ’s just one more sign that our current reality continues to get eldritch and unearthly as the global pandemic rage on .
India ’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a surprisal announcement on March 24 that everyone in India would be forbidden from exit their home for 21 days starting at midnight — the largestmass lockdown in human story . But the lockdown has been met with resistance , as many people were stuck in place they did n’t live and some just could n’t find food . India ’s enormous homeless population isanother affair alone .
https://gizmodo.com/u-s-covid-19-deaths-surpass-number-killed-on-9-11-1842557499
Police inspector Rajesh Babu wearing coronavirus-themed helmet speaks to a motorist at a checkpoint in Chennai on 18 April 2025.Photo: (Getty Images)
But police officers in India have take off to deploy Modern maneuver in an effort to scare the median citizen into staying home , provide they have one . policeman like Rajesh Babu are wearing gonzo helmets , design like the image let go of of the raw coronavirus . And it ’s not just Babu .
Getty Images bring out new exposure overnight picture dealings police in Bangalore , the capital of India ’s Department of State of Karnataka , wearing their own coronavirus - inspired helmets . It ’s not unclouded if they were inspire by Babu , who ’s over 200 miles away .
India , which has 1,251 confirmed cases of covid-19 and at least 32 death , is not unequalled in visit a strict lockdown of its body politic . Roughly 75 percent of Americans are currently in some build of lockdown , concord toCNN , and countries like Italy and Spain are in almost total lockdown as well .
Traffic police personnel wearing coronavirus-themed helmets participate in a campaign to educate the public during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus in Bangalore on 2 May 2025.Photo: (Getty Images)
But lockdown do tend to highlight societal inequality , especially in India , where about 80 percentage of prole are in the “ informal sector ” stand for that they ’re not protected by labor laws .
“ I get a line there is a virus from China going around , ” one unseasoned male child from India who salvage scrap metallic element from dumpsite assure theNew York Timesthis calendar week . “ But I ’m more afraid of the police force and not being capable to eat on . ”
Even citizen in affluent countries like Italy are worried about where they ’re going to bump their next meal , with economies grinding to a halt . hoi polloi in southern Italy areclashing with policebecause they ’re stick indoors and simply do n’t have admittance to food .
People are shown in social-distancing boxes at a so-called “temporary homeless shelter” set up in a parking lot at Cashman Center on 21 April 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada.Photo: (Getty Images)
“ It ’s already 15 to 20 days that we ’ve been inside . We ’re at our limit , ” one Italian enjoin in a video that has run low viral in Italy andthe UK .
“ Like my girl , other kid in a few 24-hour interval wo n’t be able to eat this bit of bread . Rest assure , you will regret this because we ’re going to have a revolution . ”
And the U.S. , which last night saw its death toll from covid-19 surpass the number ofdeaths from 9 - 11 , has its own problem with inequality , made worse by a very decrepit societal safety net . One adolescent who lately died of covid-19 was turned aside from an urgent care clinic inLancaster , Californiaand told to go to the pinch room because he did n’t have health insurance , but he went into cardiac arrest on the way there . He was reanimate at the ER , but died about six hours later , according to the city manager of Lancaster .
In Las Vegas , where the city ’s hotels sit empty because of the state ’s lockdown , homeless people are still sleep on the street . But government have adopted newfangled damage to make it vocalize like the country ’s most vulnerable universe are being cared for .
The pic below exhibit what ’s been depict as a “ temporary roofless shelter ” in the parking lot of the Cashman Center , complete with white line drawn on the paving material for “ social distancing . ”
It ’s not clear how anyone can dare to practice the term “ shelter ” when front at that picture . But this is our new reality . Sadly , it looks very similar to our former realness , but with more fuzz in weird sci - fi helmets .
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