Covid-19 containment zones in Ghaziabad’s urban segments rise rapidly

Ghaziabad: With new Covid-19 cases coming in thick and fast, the number of containment zones in the Ghaziabad district has shot up from 169 on April 11 to 321 as of April 13

Ghaziabad: With new Covid-19 cases coming in thick and fast, the number of containment zones in the Ghaziabad district has shot up from 169 on April 11 to 321 as of April 13. These 321 include 174 zones having a single case and 147 having more than one case.

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Officials said that containment zones having more than one case is a cause of worry and their share is about 45.79%. “High number of containment zones having multiple cases is a cause of worry. It indicates Covid spread among families and neighbours. This trend is more visible in city areas. It also indicated that the virus is spreading fast. Containment is one of the best strategies to curb Covid spread,” said Dr VB Jindal, former president of Indian Medical Association (Ghaziabad).

“Nowadays, with multiple cases coming from the same family, it is hard to detect the source. So, containment is a must,” he added.

According to official records, there were 169 containment zones with 519 cases on April 11 whereas on April 12, the figure increased to 233 containment zones with 709 cases.

On April 13, city areas falling under Indirapuram police station area had 37 containment zones, with 157 cases, at an average of about 4.24 cases per zone. In Vijay Nagar, 16 containment zones had 103 cases, while in Kaushambi, there were 102 cases in 25 containment zones. Kavi Nagar, on the other hand, had 143 cases in 35 zones.

Meanwhile, localities under Muradnagar police station have 50 cases in as many containment zones. Likewise, Bhojpur has four cases in as many zones and Modinagar also has 26 cases in as many zones.

On April 3, UP chief secretary RK Tiwari had issued an order for surveillance in which areas having even one positive case was to be created as a containment zone in a radius of 25 metres (comprising about 20 houses), while areas having more than one case will be in form of a cluster with a radius of 50 metres (comprising about 60 houses). For each case in a high-rise, the entire floor will be contained while in case of multiple cases, the entire tower will be contained.

In another order on April 11, the UP chief secretary had directed that the supply of essential commodities should be ensured in all containment zones.

“We are ensuring strict compliance of containment zone guidelines. I have asked the respective incident commanders of different areas to ensure strict enforcement. We are ensuring that guidelines are properly followed in containment zones in order to check the spread,” said Ajay Shankar Pandey, district magistrate.

The health department said that more cases in a lesser number of containment zones indicate that infected persons mixed up with others.

“It could be their family or friends or neighbours. So, the movement of people having symptoms should be restricted and self-regulation is also a must. Otherwise, it is seen nowadays that the infection is spreading fast. In such a scenario, smaller areas have a risk of getting converted to containment zones,” said an officer from the district health department, requesting anonymity.