Ghaziabad proposes ‘extended containment exercise’ in areas bordering Delhi

Ghaziabad/New Delhi: In order to control spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19) disease, the Ghaziabad district administration has proposed a concept of ‘extended

Ghaziabad/New Delhi: In order to control spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19) disease, the Ghaziabad district administration has proposed a concept of ‘extended containment exercise’ in Ghaziabad as well as in adjoining areas falling under the jurisdiction of the National Capital. On Monday, officials of the Delhi government, led by the Capital’s chief secretary, discussed measures with those from Uttar Pradesh in order to speed up control measures.

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Officials said the meeting was in line with a previous one held on July 17, when Niti Aayog member Dr VK Paul had visited Ghaziabad for a review of measures and strategies taken up by UP districts falling under the National Capital Region (NCR) to deal with the pandemic. Earlier, on June 18, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had held a video conference with UP and NCR officials and had called for a unified approach in all of NCR, including Delhi and Ghaziabad, to deal with the outbreak.

“During the video conference held with Delhi officials Monday, we proposed that an extended containment exercise should come up in bordering areas of Ghaziabad and Delhi. It is so because the spread of infection is not restricted by geographical boundaries. Under this concept, if there is a containment zone in Ghaziabad near Delhi border, the Delhi authorities should also take up containment exercises in their areas to check the spread of the virus,” said Ajay Shankar Pandey, Ghaziabad district magistrate.

Anita C Meshram, divisional commissioner (Meerut), was also present in the meeting.

“We have areas of Loni, Khoda and other localities in the trans-Hindon areas, which are close to the Delhi border. We already have a number of cases which have resulted due to cross border travel between Ghaziabad and Delhi. Earlier, we had enforced strict containment exercises in Loni, Khoda and Vaishali. As a result, there is a decline in the number of cases there. So, if there is a simultaneous containment exercise in Ghaziabad and adjoining areas of Delhi, both the cities will benefit,” Pandey added.

He also raised a point for reserving beds in super specialty hospitals in Delhi for high risk patients from Ghaziabad.

“Delhi officials said hospitals in Delhi are accessible for patients coming from Ghaziabad. They were very positive about the issues we raised during the meeting. Similar points were raised before Dr VK Paul when he and his team had come to Ghaziabad on July 17,” Pandey added.

At present, Ghaziabad has had a total of 4,639 Covid-19 cases so far, which includes 64 deaths and 947 active cases. Pandey had last week announced another round of containment exercise in 21 areas which have 10 or more active Covid-19 cases. A special door-to-door survey was also directed by the UP government from July 2 to July 12 to trace cases of influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infections (SARI).

According to officials, Ghaziabad on July 27 has about 275 containment zones and the number of category-2 zones (having more than one case or in cluster), about 189, have exceeded the category-1 zones (having one case), of about 86.

On the other hand, senior Delhi officials who attended the meeting said the Covid-19 response strategy for NCR is flowing out of the comprehensive approach of the Niti Aayog for the region.

“It is already well synchronised and considers the containment zones in totality. The existing strategy ensures that the containment of infection is achieved fully and totally. In the same spirit, the adjoining districts of Delhi were directed to ensure that containment zones in the border areas are envisaged and enforced in close coordination with their counterpart in UP. The Delhi administration hopes that this would be strictly enforced and followed by the UP administrations as well,” a senior official of the Delhi government said on condition of anonymity.

On the issue of Ghaziabad’s demand of reserving beds in Delhi for their high-risk patients, a second senior official said that Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal has already ordered that all health facilities in Delhi are open to all the citizens of the country.

“In compliance of the orders, all medical care institutions of Delhi have been treating Covid patients from different parts of the country, including UP and other neighbouring states,” the official said.