From 261 to 417: Delhi containment zones up, 5 districts account for most sealed areas

The Health Ministry guidelines state that the objective of cluster containment is to break the cycle of transmission and decrease the morbidity and mortality due to Covid.

A week back, on June 21, there were 261 containment zones in Delhi. Over the next five days, it rose steadily, settling at 280 on June 25, which remained unchanged a day later. The real push took place over June 27 and June 28, with district magistrates carrying out a remapping exercise under the instructions of the Home Ministry.

Also, the increase from 280 to 417 is owing to breaking up 13 large containment zones across West, Southeast, Shahdara, North and Central districts. “Several new areas will also be sealed over the next few days, pushing up the number further,” a senior district official said.

The existing ones that have been broken down into multiple containment zones include Hari Nagar and Tilak Vihar in West, Badarpur and Sangam Vihar in Southeast, GTB and Meet Nagar in Shahdara, Jahangirpuri, Thakran, Narela Road Alipur, Mahindra Enclave in North and Ghanta Ghar, Pratap Nagar, Shora Kothi in Central district.

The Indian Express had on June 26 reported that the number of containment zones were likely to rise sharply over the next few days. The capital had started sealing areas throwing up clusters of Covid cases in the last week of March.

On April 9, the Delhi government had launched ‘Operation SHIELD’ under which it planned to undertake “Sealing, Home Quarantine, Isolation and Tracking, Essential Supply, Local Sanitisation and Door-To-Door Checking” — to control the spread of the virus.

However, the initiative fizzled out by the end of April. Eager to reopen the economy, the state government decided to refrain from sealing new areas, especially with entire Delhi designated as a red zone by the Centre.

This changed after May 17, with the Centre giving states complete autonomy in demarcating red, orange and green containment zones. The DMs once again started identifying clusters of cases and sealing localities, which also took a back seat when the city’s health infrastructure came under a growing strain during the first week of June and focus shifted from tracing and isolating to augmenting beds.

After Home Minister Amit Shah held a meeting on the situation in Delhi on June 14, the city’s containment strategy once again came under the lens, prompting a rethink. On June 21, the ministry directed the Delhi government to issue “revised demarcation of all containment zones” by June 26.