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Delhi: Seven more areas in containment zones, total 30 zones in lockdown
Covid-19 in Delhi: The new areas include Nabi Karim and Chandni Mahal in central Delhi, Zakir Nagar in south-east Delhi, upscale residential area DLF Capital Greens in west Delhi’s Moti Nagar, Block B in Paschim Vihar, areas around a property in Ashok Nagar and pocket E of GTB Enclave.
As part of its effort to check the spread of Covid-19, the Delhi government on Friday added seven more areas in the Capital to the list of 23 containment zones announced two days ago, taking the count to 30.
The new areas include Nabi Karim and Chandni Mahal in central Delhi, Zakir Nagar in south-east Delhi, upscale residential area DLF Capital Greens in west Delhi’s Moti Nagar, Block B in Paschim Vihar, areas around a property in Ashok Nagar and pocket E of GTB Enclave.
The district administrations stepped up efforts to screen households in the seven areas after new confirmed cases of Covid-19 were reported in the last three days. According to a senior district official of the Delhi government, three new Covid-19 cases were reported from Nabi Karim, while seven cases have been reported from Chandni Mahal area in the last three days.
Three deaths were also reported from Chandni Mahal in the last couple of weeks .
Three people also tested positive at DLF Capital Greens in new Moti Nagar, a senior district official confirmed.
“Out of 102 people staying in 13 different religious locations in Chandni Mahal area, 52 have tested positive…Interaction between people who tested positive and residents of Chandni Mahal can’t be ruled out,” said an order issued by the Delhi government’s Central zone District Magistrate, Nidhi Srivastava, on Friday
Two blocks in pocket E of GTB Enclave, which was declared as a containment area on April 6, was listed separately in the list of 30 containment zones on Friday. “The blocks in GTB Enclave were declared as containment areas after a nurse with the Delhi state cancer hospital tested positive,” said a senior Delhi government official, requesting anonymity.
On Friday, Delhi saw the highest jump in coronavirus patients so far with 183 fresh cases. The national Capital had 903 coronavirus positive cases till Friday, which included 14 deaths and 26 recoveries. Of the 903 cases, 584 were linked to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation, while 269 were related to foreign travel and local transmission. The number of new Nizamuddin Markaz cases on Friday were 154.
A senior Delhi government official said, “We are doing contact tracing of positive cases reported from Nabi Karim and Chandni Mahal. Door-to-door screening of households has started in both the areas,” said the official, who didn’t wish to be named.
In South-east Delhi’s Zakir Nagar, three persons tested positive . An order issued by District Magistrate Harleen Kaur on Friday said “Gali no 18 to 20 of Zakir Nagar and nearby Abu Bakar Masjid” were declared as containment zones while the rest of Zakir Nagar is in the buffer zone.
A senior Delhi police official in charge of the area said, “We have got orders to make arrangements as Zakir Nagar area has been declared as a containment zone.”
The government said that every district having containment zones is now preparing a detailed management plans.
The government is likely to launch a mobile application on Saturday to conduct door-to-door checks and monitor people in home quarantine, a senior official in the chief minister’s office said. The app is presently being used in South District.
“Currently, a security audit is under way for the official launch of the app in all the districts,” the officer said.
Essential supplies
Meanwhile, efforts were being made to streamline essential supplies and step up screening of people in all households in each of the 23 containment zones first announced on April 8.
Many people in the 23 zones complained of having no information about whom to contact in their area for essential supplies. The government said there will be no centralised helpline number for the containment zones. Each zone will have one dedicated helpline number.
Accordingly, the south district DM BM Mishra and the local police issued a common helpline number 8287898412 for Malviya Nagar and Sangam Vihar. The local administration put up posters publicising these numbers along with the phone numbers of identified vegetable, fruit, grocery and general stores.
But such procedures and numbers were still not in place in north-east Delhi’s Pratap Khand in Jhilmil Colony. Residents complained that till Friday afternoon, the local administration did not put in place any mechanism in the colony for people to get essential items.
“We just got a call from the SHO at 4 pm, asking us to identify grocery, medical and general stores that could be opened for people to get their items. Now, 6 shops have been identified and they will be opened from 7-9 in the morning and evening. They also asked us to identify 10-15 volunteers for delivery of the items to the houses. But, we thought all this was the task of the administration. They should deploy civil defence volunteers,” said Vinod Kumar, general secretary, Pratap Khand RWA.
Similarly, in east Delhi’s West Vinod Nagar, residents said they were yet to be provided contact details of vendors for essential supplies. Shyam Murari, a resident, said, “They haven’t been given any numbers of vendors to contact for essentials such as milk, curd, fruits, vegetables, etc., so far. We have stocked up enough, but we will need help in the days to come if we are not allowed to go out at all,” Murari added.
Slum residents shared their ration with 400-odd migrant labourers living in a JJ cluster in south Delhi’s New Moti Bagh. Most of these migrants used to go to a nearby government-run shelter for food.
“We had a meeting with the police and authorities. They said leaving the containment area is out of the question. So, the migrant labourers here cannot go to the hunger centres set up by the government. Today, we distributed ration from our limited stock to the 400-odd migrant labourers who live in the slum. They made khichdi for themselves. This arrangement is likely to continue till the time this area is under lockdown. But, I am afraid, the slum may soon run out of the allotted ration of wheat and rice,” said Suraj Singh Pradhan, community leader of the South Moti Bagh slum that has been sealed and notified as a containment zone.
In Lutyens’ Delhi’s Bengali Market, the supply of essential services was streamlined on Friday. “Essential items are being provided to us after we called on the numbers given by the administration. They engaged civil defence volunteers to supply these essentials to the doorstep of residents,” Bengali Market RWA president YK Anand said.