This story is from June 29, 2020

Why containment zones in Delhi went up from 280 to 421 in two days

Within two days of Delhi government beginning its exercise to redraw the boundaries of the containment zones to fight novel coronavirus, the number of sealed areas in the capital jumped by 50% on Sunday.
Why containment zones in Delhi went up from 280 to 421 in two days
Delhi had 280 active containment zones till Thursday, which increased to 421 on Saturday, a rise of 141.
NEW DELHI: Within two days of Delhi government beginning its exercise to redraw the boundaries of the containment zones to fight novel coronavirus, the number of sealed areas in the capital jumped by 50% on Sunday.
The capital had 280 active containment zones till Thursday, which increased to 421 on Saturday, a rise of 141. The new zones have been carved out of the existing sealed areas by breaking them into small segments on the basis of clusters of novel coronavirus cases, said a source.
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Badarpur, Shaheen Bagh and Sangam Vihar in South East district; Hari Nagar and Tilak Vihar in West; GTB Enclave and Meet Nagar in Shahdara; Jahangirpuri, Thakran, Narela Road and Mahendru Enclave in North; and Ghanta Ghar, Pratap Nagar and Shora Kothi in Central district are some of the new zones, an official said.
The count may jump further as some districts are yet to complete the task, he added.
The decision to redraw the boundaries was taken in a meeting of the Centre and Delhi government chaired by Union home minister Amit Shah last week. Smaller containment zones will help the district administration carry out better surveillance to ensure that infected people remained isolated completely, said the source.
Following the meeting, Delhi Disaster Management Authority, chaired by lieutenant governor Anil Baijal, asked National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to chalk out a new strategy for better containment of Covid-19 clusters.

According to a central panel, 19% of the Covid-19 cases in Delhi originated in containment zones while 45% were found in clusters. For the exercise, district officials located clusters within the existing sealed areas to create micro containment zones.
While most economic activities are allowed in the rest of the city, there is complete restriction on entry and exit and any kind of human interference in the containment zones. The areas are periodically sanitised and essential goods are delivered at doorsteps so that residents don’t have to venture out.
The exercise will not only lead to more effective surveillance with the help of local police and technology, the areas with no positive case can also be opened up and normal activities can be allowed, said an official.
Shah on Friday approved the combined use of the Aarogya Setu and ITIHAS apps as strong predictive tools for detection of Covid-19 outbreaks in populated clusters and NCDC has trained district teams.
South West district now has the highest number of active containment zones at 77, followed by 52 in South, 48 in North, 40 in Central and 35 in Shahdara. Despite being the most densely populated, North East has the lowest count at six while New Delhi has 18 and North West 20.
The district authorities have de-contained 87 areas. An area is de-contained if no new case is reported in 28 days from the last Covid-19 patient being found in the area. “If a case is reported on the 27th day, the counting begins afresh,” said an official. West district has the highest number of de-contained zones at 25, followed by 18 in South East and 11 in East.
Surveillance has been descaled in 37 containment zones, including 11 in North district and eight in North West. Scaling down restrictions start after the 21st day of no new case from the last one.
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