Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Benerjee initiated her Government’s efforts to educate people on the need for social distancing during the COVID-19 outbreak in the country.

She personally took initiation, drawing chalk circles near a roadside fruit seller in Kolkata Thursday.

The Chief Minister, dressed in her trademark white saree and holding a handkerchief to her face, can be seen pacing and drawing circles outside similarly masked fruit sellers as a crowd of people watch, Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien posted this incident video in a social media .

Derek O’Brien, in his tweet said that “No words…, who has been critical of the centre continuing to hold crowded parliament sessions despite political leaders’ calling for people to practice social distancing during the Covid- 19 pandemic.

West Bengal registered nine cases of Covid-19 infection and one death has been linked to the virus, as per data from the Union Health Ministry.

Enforcing social distancing, a measured urged by a number of politicians, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Delhi Chief Minister Aravind Kejriwal and Ms Benerjee too, is seen by experts as a critical step in stopping the transmission of the Covid-19 virus.

Her efforts at spreading the message of social distancing comes a day after similar images emerged from around the country, with grocery shops and milk stores marking empty roads outside with numbered squares or circles drawn in white paint or chalk. Each is placed a few feet from the other and in photos from Puducherry, shared by Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi, individuals can be seen carefully standing inside marked spaces and patiently waiting their turn to buy milk.

The Chief Minister has also taken a cue from her Odisha counterpart’s notebook to ask for aid to migrant Bengali workers stranded in other states; Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had earlier written to other chief ministers with this request and promised aid to those stuck in his state.