THE TAINT OF CORONA

A week into the national lockdown, the 1,400-strong workforce at the Haldia riverine port near Kolkata had been on edge. Incoming merchant ships, port officials feared, would bring in the novel coronavirus. There weren’t enough masks or protective equipment to go around even as the port, being an essential service, continued operations. Then, on April 3, panic set in. Mohammed Bilal, 38, one of the workers at the general cargo berth, tested positive for COVID-19. Operations at eastern India’s largest port complex ground to a halt—eight port officials who had come in contact with Bilal were home-quarantined; three others, including an employee at the canteen, were confined to a port guesthouse hastily turned into a quarantine facility. Operations at the port, officials say, have been hit since then—only one cargo vessel has been moving in each day instead of the usual six.

Port officials say Bilal was tracked down by ‘government agencies’ and forced to undergo a COVID-19 test by port authorities. This was after it emerged that he was a member of the Tablighi Jamaat, the Islamic evangelical movement whose congregation at its global