Where I am, New Delhi, the lockdown started on 22nd March. 22nd March happens to be the first day a nation-wide lockdown was announced. It wasn't until 2 days later, however, that a proper lockdown for the entire nation was announced. Starting from 25th March, the entire 1.3 billion population was asked to be inside their homes for a total of 21 days.
I will also point out that it was only the total lockdown state which happened from 22 March, before this some industries were already being shutdown, like the Cinema industry. My university also shutdown starting 15th March in view of the pandemic.
The first few days of the total lockdown were rough, as stores quickly ran out of stock due to people panic hoarding. During this time, state governments started rolling out schemes to help people out with food and money. Many governments announced a certain amount of money daily wagers would get. My city, for instance, announced free food for everyone in need of it (I can personally attest for this, as I see food being distributed in a food center just down the street).
The police was in charge of seeing that people don't exit their homes without good reason. Since there weren't any particular restrictions on the police as to how they should deal with such people, they naturally tried to have their fun. They would either beat the person with sticks or they would punish them with random stuff like crawling on the ground. At some place, the police had a rather, let's say, amusing approach. They had an ambulance parked at the side of the road and anyone who is found breaking the lockdown rules will be asked to step into the ambulance. What's inside the ambulance? A COVID-19 patient! Or so they were made to believe. In reality, it was just some random police officer dressed up as a patient.
Those businesses which could afford it switched to work from home quick enough. Schools and colleges got used to the idea of remote learning as well. The semester end exams here are usually end around May but right now there is no word on how and when it will be held, other than the fact that they are indefinitely delayed. Some reports say that institutions are looking into online exams but they likely won't happen as the infrastructure just isn't there.
Gradually, the migrant workers became restless and riots started out at some places. Fake news would usually go out that there will be trains or buses running on a certain day and they will all assemble at the railway station or bus stands. They would walk several kilometers to achieve this as there is no transportation right now that they can afford. Some migrant workers just decided to walk back to their homes, hundreds of kilometers away. Many deaths occurred because of this.
As the end date of the lockdown approached, the government announced an extension. The new end date is the 3rd of May. This 'second' lockdown is a bit different from the last one, the country has been divided into 'zones'. Depending on if the zone has the virus under control, some relaxations are imposed and the zone is no longer under a total lockdown.
Right now, another extension of the lockdown is being considered. And it is extremely likely that it will happen, as the country is still getting a huge amount of cases everyday.
The future is uncertain and we are probably in this ride for the next few months at least. I will keep you guys updated on how the situation progresses over here. Meanwhile, I also would love to hear from you guys about the local reports of your areas, so do share in the comments!
Very well written post! Keep doing what you are doing, waiting for new blogs :)