Pune embarks on aggressive cluster containment to prevent Covid-19 spread - Hindustan Times
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Pune embarks on aggressive cluster containment to prevent Covid-19 spread

Hindustan Times, Pune | ByAbhay Khairnar and Nadeem Inamdar, Pune
Apr 08, 2020 04:06 PM IST

Densely populated 16 localities of eastern Pune which included the older parts of the city, known as the ‘Peth’ areas and parts of Kondhwa, sealed.

Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) initiated cluster containment in the densely populated 16 localities of eastern Pune which included the older parts of the city, known as the ‘Peth’ areas and parts of Kondhwa, a day after the city witnessed a spike of 41 positive cases for the coronavirus.

Gultekdi area sealed in Pune on Tuesday, April 7, 2020.(Rahul Raut/HT PHOTO)
Gultekdi area sealed in Pune on Tuesday, April 7, 2020.(Rahul Raut/HT PHOTO)

On Tuesday, the city witnessed three Covid-19 related deaths taking the toll to eight. All the deceased, were senior citizens and were on ventilators undergoing treatment for various ailments including diabetes, said Sassoon General hospital dean Dr Ajay Chandanwale.

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The aggressive cluster containment strategy on Tuesday stretched from Maharashinagar to the Regional Transport Office (RTO) area in Pune from Monday midnight and included Raviwar peth, Guruwar peth, Budhwar peth, Nana peth, Maharashinagar, Swargate, Shivaji road and Kondhwa areas.

Civic commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad said the areas would be sealed for at least a week after which a fresh review would be taken.

As the news of the sealing of the eastern parts became public on Monday evening, people rushed to the Mahatma Phule Mandai to purchase vegetables. The police cordoned the Mandai area and streamlined crowds, allowing 25 people to enter at one time and maintain a physical distance from one another while making purchases.

Vikram Khanna, a resident of Guruwar peth said all the inner roads were deserted with police patrolling the area. “Till yesterday, people were roaming here unnecessarily. There was panic after a few positive cases (Covid-19) were found in our area. But the people have welcomed the municipal administration’s decision to seal the area,” he said.

Shivraj Sanas, a resident of Mandai area, was also appreciative of crowd control brought about by the police in the vegetable market area.

A political activist said people are themselves informing the police if someone is found loitering on the road.

Divisional commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar on Tuesday took a review of the areas which were brought under cluster containment in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad. Police commissioner K Venkatesham; civic chief Shekhar Gaikwad; Pune district collector Naval Kishore Ram; Pimpri Chinchwad municipal commissioner Shravan Hardikar and senior police officers were present for the meeting.

PRECAUTIONS

The police are prohibiting unnecessary movement on the roads

Vegetable, grocery and milk shops will be open for fixed time while ensuring physical distance among the people

Use of face masks has been made compulsory for everyone stepping out of their homes

People will not be allowed to leave these areas and outsiders won’t be allowed to enter these areas

In the case of natural, non-Covid-19 related death, police will give permission to a few people to participate in the cremation

Popular shopping areas such as Laxmi road and Belbaugh chowk have been barricaded completely

In east Pune too, people stepped out in large numbers to stock essentials

On Tuesday, residents of eastern Pune stepped out in large numbers to stock essential groceries and prepare for the cluster containment that was enforced in their area from Tuesday.

People said the announcement came all of a sudden and took them by surprise

Siddharth Rathi, a resident of Market Yard, said, “We got to know about our area being declared as containment zone late last night. Since this will remain for a week, I had to step out to purchase grocery as well as LPG gas cylinder.”.

Many people were disappointed as a large number of shops including those selling essentials such as groceries, medicines and vegetables were completely closed. Relief work such as the foodgrains to the poor also came to a halt and former chief commissioner of Income Tax, Akramul Jabbar Khan, tweeted to Pune police saying: “immediate intervention of the police is needed and NGOs distributing foodgrains must not be stopped. The digital passes were not working.”

Govt’s ‘cluster containment’ strategy

The Union health ministry’s cluster containment strategy is meant to contain the disease within a defined geographical area by early detection of cases, breaking the chain of transmission and thus preventing its spread to new areas.

“Clusters have appeared in multiple states, particularly Kerala, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab, Karnataka, Telangana and UT of Ladakh. At least 211 districts are now reporting Covid-19 cases and the risk of further spread remains very high,” the Union health ministry has said in a 20-page strategy document.

The aggressive containment strategy will be scaled down, said the government document, only if no new cases of Covid-19 are reported for at least four weeks after the last confirmed test.

“Based on the risk assessment and indication of successful containment operations, an approach of staggered work and market hours may be put into practice,” the document said.

The cluster containment strategy would “include geographic quarantine, social distancing measures, enhanced active surveillance, testing all suspected cases, isolation of cases, quarantine of contacts and risk communication to create awareness among public on preventive public health measures”, the document stated.

“The objective of this plan is to stop the chain of transmission thus reducing the morbidity and mortality due to Covid-19,” it said.

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