PMC to review containment zone lists every week

The PMC has also decided to bear the costs of all Covid-19 tests it commissions to private laboratories.

The spurt of Covid-19 cases in the city, 620 on Sunday, has moved the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to review its containment zones every seven days, instead of the current 15 days.

Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) workers install tin barriers to cordon off a slum area that has been declared a containment zone, in Kothrud, Pune, Maharashtra, India, on Saturday, June 20, 2020. (Pratham Gokhale/HT Photo)

The PMC has also decided to bear the costs of all Covid-19 tests it commissions to private laboratories.

Municipal commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad, along with Pune divisional commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar and district collector Naval Kishore Ram, held a joint press conference on Monday, where Gaikwad announced that the civic body has also changed its strategy for reviewing containment zones.

“As per the existing policy, PMC is taking the review of containment zones every 15 days, but as the numbers are increase rapidly in non-containment zones, a review will be taken every week. This way, we will announce new containment zones every week,” said Gaikwad.

PMC also plans to restrict the entry of citizens at its headquarters, with more employees are testing positive.

“I have given instructions to the security guard not to allow citizens into the headquarters. The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation has also banned visitors to its headquarters,” Gaikwad said.