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Covid-19: Central team inspects containment areas and markets in Hyderabad
Hyderabad has emerged as a Covid-19 hotspot and has recorded more than half of 990 cases in Telangana.
The five-member inter-ministerial central team on Sunday made a random inspection of the containment clusters in Hyderabad to study the implementation of lockdown measures in the city which has recorded more than half of the 990 Covid-19 cases in Telangana, officials said.
The central team led by additional secretary of Union ministry of Jal Sakthi Arun Baroka is on a three-day visit that began Saturday.
The team visited the Malakpet containment zone on Sunday and interacted with the members of the emergency services team of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, besides the team of doctors.
Telangana officials showed the central team members how the entire area was barricaded so that not a single person would come out of their houses even for purchasing of essential commodities. The GHMC services team members would supply the essentials to the people at their door steps in the containment areas from the nearby supermarkets.
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They explained to the central team that the medical team had been conducting a survey to find out if people suffering from fever and other symptoms in the containment area every day. The central team members entered into the containment zone and interacted with a few people.
In the afternoon, the central team members met Director General of Police M Mahender Reddy, who explained to them about the steps being taken by the police to strictly implement the lockdown.
The DGP explained to the central team about setting up check posts, special patrolling parties and about seizing over one lakh vehicles for violations during the lockdown period. He said all the police personnel at the hospitals have been provided with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
In the morning, the central visited Rythu Bazaar at Mehdipatnam and interacted with farmers and provision store owners. The team members inspected the social distancing measures being taken at the market.
Later, the team visited Nature Cure Hospital and inspected the arrangements in the quarantine zone and the services being offered to the inmates.
On Saturday night, the central team also went around the containment areas near historic Charminar to oversee the implementation of lockdown. Later, the team had a lengthy interaction with Hyderabad city police commissioner Anjani Kumar, who explained to the team in detail about how the disease had spread from those who had returned from the Tablighi Jamaat conference in Delhi last month.
He also gave examples of some people who had contracted the disease from unknown contacts. “Once their links are traced, it would be easy to contain the spread of the disease. As such, the number of cases is coming down gradually,” the police commissioner explained.
Out of 990 positive cases registered in Telangana state till Saturday night, as many as 517 positive cases were reported only in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits that cover Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy and Medcha-Malkajgiri districts.
