Migrants trying to return home gather while police regulate their exit at the Delhi-Ghazipur border on March 27, 2020. (Photo: PTI)

People at a large gathering in Ghazipur near the Delhi-UP border are waiting to travel home in specially arranged buses today (scroll down for video), at a time when all of India is under lockdown to prevent the spread of potentially deadly coronavirus infections.

There are concerns that an exodus of out-of-work migrant workers from cities during the three-week lockdown, imposed at midnight on March 24, can dilute its effectiveness. The central government is urging them to stay where they are and has asked states to do their bit to keep them from leaving.

In the absence of transport, many workers seem prepared to cover the long distances to their native villages by foot -- a situation described by CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury as "a catastrophe in the making".

#WATCH Huge number of people seen walking on foot toward their homes in different districts of Uttar Pradesh, at Ghazipur near Delhi-UP border in absence of transport services due to #CoronvirusLockdown. pic.twitter.com/k7mJxRK1QO ANI (@ANI) March 27, 2020

"I am pained at seeing thousands of migrant labourers walk down towards Uttar Pradesh from the Delhi border," said senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday.

"They are poor people, and is it not our duty to help them?"

The Uttar Pradesh government has now arranged 1,000 buses to ferry such workers home, ANI reports.

#WATCH Huge gathering at Ghazipur near Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border as people wait to board special buses arranged by UP govt for their native districts in Uttar Pradesh. #CoronavirusLockdown pic.twitter.com/PgVM6eSank March 28, 2020

India is under lockdown until April 14 to curb the spread of a potentially fatal respiratory disease, Covid-19, which is caused by a previously unknown kind of coronavirus.

The coronvirus -- known as Sars-CoV-2 ("saars-kawv-two") -- was first detected in China but has now caused a pandemic, having killed over 20,000 people worldwide.

India's caseload is still relatively small compared to those of countries like the US, South Korea and Italy -- but experts have warned of a large uptick in the absence of stringent measures.

Lockdowns like the ambitious one currently being enforced in India help promote social distancing -- a crucial step in breaking the chain of transmission -- but are not enough.

"What we really need to focus on is finding those who are sick, those who have the virus, and isolate them, find their contacts and isolate them," said WHO executive director Mike Ryan in a recent BBC interview.

"The danger right now with the lockdowns ... if we don't put in place the strong public health measures now, when those movement restrictions and lockdowns are lifted, the danger is the disease will jump back up."

Inputs from agencies

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