‘Life is precious’: India’s migrant workers flee COVID-hit cities

Workers abandoning cities in droves in repeat of last year’s exodus when lockdown shut industries and left them jobless.

Amid India’s COVID-19 crisis, migrant workers are abandoning cities and heading for their villages in droves in a repeat of last year’s exodus when the lockdown shut industries and left them jobless – but this time they are worried about safety. India on Thursday reported 379,257 new COVID-19 cases and 3,645 new deaths, according to health ministry data. It was the country’s highest number of deaths reported in a single day since the start of the pandemic. With more than 18 million people infected, several cities, including the national capital New Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Surat and Bengaluru have been put under lockdown.