The government on Friday expanded the containment zones in national capital Delhi, bringing three more localities of central and north Delhi under the hard lockdown. A top Delhi home department official told Hindustan Times that the three fresh localities in central Delhi were brought under the strict lockdown procedure in view of cases linked to the Tablighi Jamaat in these areas,
The three localities that have been added to the list are B Block Jahangirpuri, Nabi Karim and Chandni Mahal.
Containment zones are localised (up to a kilometer in radium) and are aimed to prevent the spread of Covid-19 from a locality or a village to nearby areas. Health ministry officials have described it as a barrier erected around the focus of infection.
Officials said the decision to expand the number of containment zones in central Delhi areas was a fallout of concerns about the possible spread of Covid-19 cases due to contacts of Tablighi Jamaat workers.
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In containment zones, residents are not allowed to step out to buy vegetables, grocery items, medicines and other essentials. There could be multiple screening by health officials, police and civic bodies. People living in containment zones are put under surveillance to track if any person has developed the symptoms of Covid-19 (fever, sore throat, etc).
A majority of Covid-19 cases reported in Delhi are linked to the congregation at the Tablighi Jamaat headquarters last month, turning the Markaz into the epicentre of the disease in Delhi and across the country.
{{/usCountry}}A majority of Covid-19 cases reported in Delhi are linked to the congregation at the Tablighi Jamaat headquarters last month, turning the Markaz into the epicentre of the disease in Delhi and across the country.
{{/usCountry}}In the national capital, Tablighi Jamaat-linked cases have also been a cause of key concern. For one, officials concede, because they cannot say with any amount of confidence that the authorities including the police have been able to trace all the people who joined the congregation at the Nizamuddin headquarters or identify all the Covid-19 clusters linked to the Jamaat.
But Delhi Police has been trying, scanning phone signals that were in and around the Tablighi headquarters, the Markaz. A senior city government official said Nabi Karim and Chandni Mahal were added to the containment zone list after the police carried out field verification about some of these people, before the health services moved in.