Will border curbs stay till mid-June? Noida waits for state government’s orders

NOIDA: With the fourth phase of lockdown drawing to a close on May 31, the Noida district magistrate reiterated that inter-state borders would be opened only after consultation with the state government.
District magistrate Suhas LY wrote on social media said that Noida has been testing more than twice the number of Covid samples that are being done nationally.He said 5,000 tests for every 10 lakh people were being conducted in the district at a time the national average is less than half of that.
In an appeal to residents, the DM asked what inconvenience they were willing to incur for the well-being of the community. He also emphasised that a decision on re-opening the border with Delhi would be taken only after considering the health and livelihood of residents.
Sources in the Noida administration said the current restrictions at the border would continue and movement would be regulated during the first half of June as well. “But a final decision is yet to be taken on this,” an official said.
The administrations of Noida and Ghaziabad have sealed their borders with Delhi, citing the high number of Covid cases with links to the national capital. While it is relatively easier to cross over to Delhi, returning to the two UP cities is only possible if the commuter has a valid ID or a pass issued by his administration. Every day, DND has been witnessing kilometre-long snarls as cops insist on checking the IDs of each commuter.
Till Thursday, Noida had reported 377 Covid cases, of which, more than 70% have recovered. Officials said almost a sixth of patients in Noida had visited Delhi either for medical reasons or some official work.
Suhas also addressed the issue of containment zones, at a time many residents have demanded a daily list. “I have asked the health department to start providing a containment zone list regularly. We will share such details through social media platforms,” he added.
Since a list of containment zones is being released after a gap of four to five days, many residents are unaware about areas to be avoided. “Residents do not have much information about places where cases have been detected. Also, now only a single tower is being locked down instead of the entire society. With quick flow of information, visit to such societies can be avoided completely,” said a Sector 61 resident, Dharmendra Singh.
On Thursday, two more cases linked to Delhi were detected in Noida.
A woman, who used to visit a Delhi-based super-specialty hospital from a society in Sector 78 for dialysis, tested positive for Covid along with her caretaker who had been accompanying her.