E-Paper
Delineating city into smaller containment zones on Chandigarh admn’s mind
Admn faced flak for declaring the entire city as a containment zone; modified criteria by health ministry will ease the administration’s job of redrawing the boundaries of ‘affected pockets’ and others
Facing flak for declaring the entire city as a containment zone and with more than 60% coronavirus cases reported from only two residential pockets out of 100 so far, the UT administration is considering re-demarcating the containment zone after May 3.
The modified criteria for delineating containment zones, announced by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on Thursday, will ease the administration’s job of redrawing the boundaries of the smaller containment zones.
UT adviser Manoj Kumar Parida, said, “We are thinking of smaller containment zones. Entire city cannot be sealed for months together. Industry, trade and service sector have to resume work with social distancing.”
The city has been under curfew since March 24. It was designated a containment zone on April 18 after the central government declared it a hotspot (red zone) on April 15. On Thursday, the Centre retained the city under red zone after a sharp increase in positive cases.
60% CASES FROM TWO AREAS
There are 100 residential pockets in the city, including 57 sectors, 22 villages and 21 colonies. Of these, 19 pockets so far have reported coronavirus cases. But, only two pockets – Bapu Dham Colony and Sector 30 have contributed more than 60% of the cases. Bapu Dham has recorded 37 cases so far.
Of particular concern for the administration are the colonies with 50% of the city’s total population of around 12 lakh. Several such colonies, including Bapu Dham Colony, Mauli Jagran, Ram Darbar, EWS Colony in sectors 30 and 38, Sector 52 Rehabilitation Colony and Dhanas, have already reported positive cases. Two – Bapu Dham and Dhanas Kachi Colony — have already been designated as ‘affected pockets’.
NEW CRITERIA FOR CONTAINMENT ZONES
As per the modified criteria communicated by the health ministry to all states and union territories on Thursday, a residential colony/mohalla/municipal ward or police-station area/municipal zones/towns can be designated as containment zones in urban areas.
The containment zones in these districts have to be delineated based on mapping and geographical dispersion of cases and contacts, area with well-demarcated perimeter and enforceability.
“The area should be appropriately defined by the district administration/local urban body with technical inputs at the local level,” the communique said.
WHY CONTAINMENT ZONE MATTERS
No economic activity - opening of industrial and commercial establishments - can take place in a containment zone.
Not even neighbourhood shops, as allowed by the Ministry of Home Affairs, can be opened except during curfew relaxation.
A containment operation is deemed to be over 28 days from the date the last case in the containment zone tests negative.
All people in the containment zone must install Aarogya Setu mobile application, which informs user in case they have crossed paths with someone who has tested positive.
