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Covid-19: In Delhi, stickers on houses to identify quarantined citizens
Stepping up measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), the Delhi government has begun marking residences in which one or more people have
Stepping up measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), the Delhi government has begun marking residences in which one or more people have been asked to stay in home quarantine.
For this, officials are using red and green stickers with a warning: “Please do not visit. Home under quarantine.”
Revenue officials said the department pasted stickers on at least 400 such houses till noon on Sunday. The Delhi government kickstarted the drive on Saturday evening in the central and north-west districts covering neighbourhoods such as Civil Lines, Ashok Vihar, Saraswati Vihar and Karol Bagh.
There are 10,475 people under home quarantine in Delhi at the moment, according to the data with the state health department.
People who are viewed to be potential carriers of the disease due to their travel abroad or likely contact with patients but who do not show symptoms are asked to quarantine themselves at home for 14 days. Patients testing positive for the fast-spreading infection with flu-like symptoms have to undergo treatment at government-run isolation wards. Delhi has so far recorded 24 positive Covid-19 cases with one death.
Talking about the new strategy for the identification of houses under quarantine, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal urged residents in the neighbourhood on Sunday not to stigmatise families under quarantine.
“Delhi government is marking all homes with persons advised to home quarantine. I appeal to all not to stigmatise such families. Please be empathetic and supportive of them. The marking is aimed only at cautioning others for their own safety,” he tweeted.
The drive is being carried out in addition to the hand-stamping process at the Indira Gandhi International airport, where flyers from other countries have to undergo the process since March 19 and stay in 14-day mandatory home quarantine even if they don’t show symptoms of the disease. India has cancelled all international flights for a week beginning Sunday.
New Delhi district magistrate Tanvi Garg said officials are scaling up the process to mark houses, listing the challenges the administration is facing.
“There are some [of those asked to be in quarantine] who are following this very responsibly. But there are others who need a lot of convincing. Many people tell our officials that they feel all right, and hence refuse to self-quarantine. We then tell them that home quarantine is mandated for all asymptomatic (without symptoms) passengers, and that they would have been in an isolation ward if they felt unwell after their international travel,” said Gar.
A sub-divisional magistrate in north-west Delhi said there have been two instances where a neighbour (in one case) and a Residents’ Welfare Association (in the other) informed the administration of persons under quarantine venturing out of their homes.
On Friday, the Delhi government issued an advisory, asking 1,000-odd RWAs in the city to raise alarms if they spot any person, supposed to be quarantined, “roaming openly”.
“One person said he had to take out money from an ATM. It is in such situations that we get into a dilemma about what to do. We asked the man whether he was okay if one of our officials went and took out the cash for him. He agreed and we did so wearing gloves. No penal action was taken in these two cases since the persons complied after we made them understand,” said the SDM, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
A senior official in the health department, who too did not want to be named, said information on home-quarantined passengers have been provided to the integrated disease surveillance programme (IDSP). A local IDSP team has been constituted to keep tabs on such people.
Revenue officials involved in tracking home quarantine cases and creating awareness on the issue said the most common query is regarding joint families.
“In such cases, we advice them to first keep senior citizens and children below 10 away from those need to be quarantined. It is preferable if the elderly and the children are shifted to a relative’s or a friend’s home (non-quarantined). If there is no option, then we insist on them living in completely separate rooms and ensure frequent sanitisation of the house,” he said.
When asked about how officials deal with those who are reluctant to cooperate, Garg said: “Mostly, an emotional conversation on how they are posing a serious health risk to their elderly parents and grandparents, who are most vulnerable to coronavirus, works.”
