With the Uttar Pradesh government Wednesday announcing the sealing of 105 Covid-19 hot spots across 15 districts, 25 such clusters in the NCR -- 13 in Ghaziabad and 12 in Gautam Budh Nagar – will be under intensive lockdown measures for a week, with residents confined indoors, all shops and banks shut, and all vehicular movement completely curtailed.
The order comes into effect on Wednesday midnight and will remain in force until the morning of April 15. During the period, the government will carry out extensive sanitisation of the identified areas, and facilitate doorstep delivery of food and other essential supplies. ,,,,,
A decision to seal the Covid-19 clusters – areas having six or more coronavirus-positive cases --- was taken after chief minister Yogi Adityanath met senior officials to review the implementation of the 21-day nationwide lockdown announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from March 25.
The hot spots are spread across Agra (22), Ghaziabad (13), Gautam Budh Nagar (12), Kanpur (12), Lucknow (12), Meerut (7), Saharanpur (4), Maharajganj (4), Shamli (4), Varanasi (4) Bulandshahr (3), Basti (3), Firozabad (3), Bareilly (1) and Sitapur (1).
“We have identified these hot spots in consultation with the director general of police (DGP) Hitesh Chandra Awasthy,” said Awanish Awasthi, additional chief secretary for home in the Uttar Pradesh government.
{{/usCountry}}“We have identified these hot spots in consultation with the director general of police (DGP) Hitesh Chandra Awasthy,” said Awanish Awasthi, additional chief secretary for home in the Uttar Pradesh government.
{{/usCountry}}Till Wednesday, Uttar Pradesh has reported 361 Covid-19 cases from 37 districts and three deaths.
“We have identified clusters where Covid-19 positive people live or had links with. We will enforce the complete lockdown and sanitise the clusters,” DGP Awasthy said.
Addressing a joint press conference, Awasthi and the DGP said Adityanath had directed government officials to implement the lockdown more strictly in the hot spots. In the remaining areas of the 15 districts, the lockdown ordered on March 25 will continue, they said.
Avnish Awasthi said a curfew will be clamped in the hot spots and people will not be allowed to move out of homes. All commercial establishments, including banks, groceries and subsidised public distribution system outlets, will be shut and the movement of traffic banned. No one will be allowed to enter the clusters until the morning of April 15.
“The areas will be segregated from other areas with the help of barricading and banks, shops, etc will remain closed. All the medical and general supplies will be delivered at doorstep. Movement in these areas will be restricted like under a normal curfew situation,” DGP Awasthy said.
Police and health teams will carry out house-to-house searches to identify people infected with the coronavirus, officials said. People who have come from other districts will be identified and their contacts traced.
The hot spots will be inaccessible to the media as well, and the government photographers will release pictures to the media.
The fire services department will carry out an extensive sanitation drive in hot spots. All lockdown passes issued to civilians will stand cancelled. Drones will be used to watch the densely populated neighbourhoods. The administration will use loudspeakers to pass on information to residents of hot spots, officials said.
“The police will deploy UP-112 vehicles and will take up extensive surveillance using drones. Residents will be kept informed through loudspeakers. Extensive sanitisation will also be taken up with the help of fire tenders. Banks and shops will remain closed in all such areas. The restrictions will be only for hot spot areas and the remaining parts of the district will be under the normal lockdown,” Awasthi said.
Another senior police officer said the number of hot spots may increase if more Covid-19 positive cases are detected in any other neighbourhoods.
Responding to reports of people resorting to panic-buying, officials said people should not panic as all essential commodities and medicines will be supplied to their doorstep.
Clarifications were later made by officials of Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar districts that the orders were only for hot spot areas and not for the entire district as such.
“There are reports doing the rounds that curfew will be imposed in Ghaziabad. These reports are incorrect. The lockdown is in place and supplies and services will continue as usual. Residents should not violate the lockdown rules, else we will take legal action,” Ajay Shankar Pandey, district magistrate, Ghaziabad, said.
“The sealing orders are for 12 hot spot areas in Gautam Budh Nagar. But this does not mean that essential supplies such groceries, medicines, fruits and vegetables will not be available. The administration will ensure delivery at doorstep. So we request everyone to follow the lockdown rules,” Narendra Bhooshan, chief executive officer of the Greater Noida authority, said.
“We are now going to issue an order that everyone who moves out of their homes will have to mandatorily cover their face with a mask or cloth in order to prevent the spread of the infection,” Amit Mohan Prasad, principal secretary (health), said.