View source for Indians Try To Flee Unsanitary Overcrowded Coronavirus Quarantine...

<br>By Rupam Jain and Saurabh Sharma<br> <br>MUMBAI/LUCKNOW, India, April 24 (Reuters) - Thousands of people in overcrowded coronavirus quarantine centers in government buildings across India are complaining of poor food and sanitation and lack of social distancing, inmates and officials say.<br><br>Some are trying to escape.<br> <br>People who have tested positive but show no symptoms of COVID-19 or those who came into close contact with them or had traveled abroad were sent to the centers initially for 14 days.<br> <br>But many have since been flooded with tens of thousands of migrant workers who tried to flee the big cities of Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad after a lockdown announced last month sapped their earnings and they were stopped by police on their way to their home villages.<br> <br>Weeks on, officials overseeing these centers say they are unable to cope.<br> <br>"I have been flooded with demands - people need better beds, clean toilets ... all I can tell them is 'please adjust, please calm down'," said Hemangi Worlikar, deputy mayor  [http://footballandcricketonline.website2.me/blog/natasha-jain-gambhir footballandcricketonline.website2.me] of Mumbai's municipal corporation, which has one of the country's highest coronavirus caseloads.<br> <br>At a school in Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh state, 25 youths clashed with staff over poor conditions and then escaped through a window, police said.<br><br>They were tracked down in nearby villages and brought back.<br> <br>India has reported 23,076 cases of coronavirus, according to government data on Friday, and the worry is that there could be a surge as testing is ramped up, putting further pressure on quarantine centers.<br> <br>A home ministry official said there had been reports of 27 clashes in quarantine centers since April 16.<br><br>"Mounting frustration and anxiety were the main causes," the official said. "People are getting angry."<br> <br>Frontline medical staff have also complained. Doctors released videos showing stale food, dirty toilets and shortage of bed linen in Rae Bareli, a quarantine center in Uttar Pradesh.<br> <br>"The complaints made by doctors were legitimate and we have now relocated doctors to a guest house," said S.K.<br><br>Sharma, a chief medical officer in Rae Bareli.<br> <br>Ishita Debnath, a tailor, said she was quarantined in a community hall in the eastern city of Kolkata, one of 80 women with just two toilets available to them.<br> <br>"We have been huddled like cattle here," she told Reuters by telephone.<br> <br>The government has said it is doing everything possible and that people must be patient.<br> <br>"There are people here who are trying to steal items and they abuse the staff," said a senior official in Sultanpur, who is managing a quarantine center of 140 people.<br> <br>(Additional reporting by Sumit Khanna in Ahmedabad; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Nick Macfie)<br>