Abstract
The globally fast-spreading novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is now testing the abilities of all countries to manage its widespread implications on public health. To effectively contain its impacts, a nation-wide temporary lockdown was enforced in India. The resultant panic buying and stockpiling incidents together with spread of misinformation created a sense of food insecurity at local level. This paper discusses a specific case of Nagpur from the worst affected Maharashtra state of India, wherein the urban–rural food supply chains were reportedly disrupted. Based on formal interviews with local government officials, a month-long timeline of COVID-19 outbreak in Nagpur was studied along with the consequent government initiatives for maintaining public health and food supply. While the city residents were confined to their homes, this study then assessed their perceived food security at household level, along with their “Immediate Concerns” and “Key Information Sources”. Through online surveys at two different time intervals, the concerns of “Food and Grocery” were found to be rising, and “Government Apps and Websites” were identified as the most reliable source of information. Based on the research findings, the authors further suggest specific policy recommendations for addressing the immediate and long-term concerns related to food systems in Nagpur.
Highlights
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus, officially referred to as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (SARS-COV-2), which was first detected in China, in December 2019
Based on the insight gained through the formal interviews, the chronological implications of COVID-19 in Nagpur, the consequent government initiatives to control the spread of infections and maintaining the food supply are descriptively explained in the following three subsections
This paper presents an early assessment of COVID-19 implications on local food systems, with reference to the specific case of Nagpur in central India
Summary
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus, officially referred to as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (SARS-COV-2), which was first detected in China, in December 2019. There is currently no evidence if food is a likely source or route of transmission of this virus, but it has been reported to originate from the world-famous Huanan seafood market in Wuhan city. Four months later on 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic, after it spread over several countries affecting a large number of people [1]. As per the global tally kept by the Johns Hopkins University [2], until. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 5710; doi:10.3390/ijerph17165710 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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