15 of these areas are in Faridkot town, 12 in Jaito and 17 in KotkapuraQuarantine norms enforced in 44 habitations in Faridkot

Faridkot: To stop the spread of Covid-19 in slums and congested residential areas, the Health Department and district administration has identified 44 habitations in the district and enforced quarantine norms in these localities on Saturday. “Fifteen of these slum areas and congested habitations are in Faridkot town, 12 in Jaito and 17 in Kotkapura town of the district. These areas have been declared as quarantine zones under the Epidemic Diseases Act and Disaster Management Act,” said Kumar Saurabh Raj, Deputy Commissioner, Faridkot. “In congested residential areas where hygienic conditions are poor, the potential for the spread of infectious diseases is massive, simply because people are so close to each other and have such prolonged face-to-face contact,” said a senior officer in the Health Department here. “Enforcing quarantine norms in these congested residential areas are necessary. While most of the bustling streets of the towns were comparatively empty and eerily quiet, but the assembly of people in the slum and basti areas is common even during the curfew,” he said. “In efforts to prevent the spread of the virus in these congested areas and keep the epidemic at bay, even if it can’t completely stamp out infections, early intervention is the key. So are painstaking tracking, enforced quarantines and meticulous social distancing,” the DC said. “The first step of breaking the chain of infection is identification of such hotspots. In this context, a meeting was called to formulate a strategy for breaking the infection chain of Covid-19 and the first main step for breaking the chain was early identification of hotspots. The officers of Urban Local Bodies have identified these habitations as congested and contiguous habitations, which demand strict enforcement of quarantine norms, the DC said. The Health Department will ensure routine inspections in these areas and SDMs will ensure supplies of all essential commodities to residents of these localities on the doorstep. — Balwant Garg

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