Around a dozen youths were playing football on a ground along EM Bypass, opposite Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, around 5pm on Thursday. A small group of onlookers gathered to cheer the players.

None of the players or the spectators, who were standing in a huddle, was wearing a mask.

The field where the youths had gathered is in a Covid-19 containment zone, an official of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation said.

Why did they step out on a day the government had imposed a complete lockdown across the state? “We cannot sit back at home and get bored. We play here regularly, lockdown or no lockdown. We have not stepped out of our locality. We are just playing a game of football with our friends,” said a 22-year-old player, a resident of Duttabad.