UP will only seal affected floor, not entire tower

NOIDA/GHAZIABAD: The UP government redefined containment zone rules on Wednesday, allowing only a floor where a person has tested positive for Covid-19 to be sealed and not the entire tower.
According to the fresh guidelines, the health department will seal a tower only if there are multiple cases across floors. If more than one member of a family tests positive in one flat, it would be considered as a single unit and only the particular floor would be sealed.The rules, however, did not mention anything about sealing common areas like parks and walkways in societies — as had been the case earlier.
Officials said the demarcation of containment zones would be finalised in a day. “We have started changing the demarcation in keeping with the latest order. The new list should be ready by Thursday. On sealing of common areas, the order says that the local health departments and the administrations can take a call on the matter. We will take a decision on a case-to-case basis, depending on the requirement and advice from the health department,” said Suhas LY, the Noida district magistrate.
Noida residents had already appealed to the district administration for such an order, questioning the logic behind sealing an entire tower when going out for work had become important and living with the infection seemed to be the only way forward.
Officials in Ghaziabad said the move would ease pressure off the police and administration in imposing restrictions on movement. NK Gupta, the chief medical officer in Ghaziabad, said the new containment order would be implemented with immediate effect. “We have received a specific direction in this regard. Even if more than one person is found to be Covid positive in one flat, it will be considered as a single unit and only that floor would be sealed. The tower will be sealed only when cases are reported from different flats,” he added.
The new order also mentions that all districts in the state would have 800 teams for demarcation of containment zones. An earlier proposal had mentioned that at least 600 teams would be formed in districts such as Noida, Ghaziabad, Firozabad, Rampur, Jaunpur, Hapur and Bulandshahr, where more than 300 cases have been reported. Other numbers were specified for the remaining districts, based on the surge in cases and infection rate.
Residents welcomed the move on Wednesday, saying sealing of towers was causing huge inconvenience among those employed with private firms. “This should be implemented across the district at the earliest. There are some societies in Noida Extension where the Dadri SDM had already ordered de-sealing by Wednesday evening,” said Manish Kumar, a member of NEFOWA.
Other residents reiterated that reducing the containment area was much needed. Rajiv Singh, another member of NEFOWA, said, “Cases had been increasing, which had led the authorities to seal many towers. But people have to go for work, now that businesses and industries have started to open up. If the state now allows home isolation, residents will be much at ease.”
Alok Kumar, founder of the Federation of Association of Apartment Owners, suggested that restrictions should be eased further. “There was no reason for keeping an entire tower sealed, now that the whole country is in the Unlock phase. The decision of keeping a tower sealed had been severely affecting the lives of other people for no reason. Even sealing a floor does not seem viable now. The administration should just seal the affected flat,” he added.