Number of COVID-19 containment zones down to 496 in Delhi

New Delhi, August 1

The number of COVID-19 containment zones has come down to 496 in Delhi after an extensive review by the AAP government, providing relief to thousands of people living in such restricted areas.

A review meeting was held by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday on the status of the containment zones in the national capital.

“The number of containment zones in Delhi scaled down from 715 on July 27 to 496 on July 31. This move will bring significant relief to residents of some red zones in the city that have been contained for months,” a statement from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said.

Kejriwal directed the Health Department and district officials to analyse the situation at regular intervals, it said.

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The number of containment zones was 715 in Delhi by the end of July, affecting nearly 3.5 lakh people. With the number going down to 496, the movement of only about one lakh people will be affected, Revenue Minister Kailash Gahlot said in a statement.

The review of the containment zones by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government was undertaken after a Union health ministry memorandum, issued earlier this week, allowed the states and Union territories to de-notify a containment zone 14 days after the discharge of the last COVID-19 patient, officials said.

Earlier, such a de-notification could be done 28 days after the discharge of the last patient.

“As desired by Honble CM @ArvindKejriwal all the containment zones in Delhi were extensively reviewed in last 2 days with each District DM and surveillance Team,” Gahlot said in a tweet.

A locality is declared a containment zone by the district authorities in Delhi if three or more persons there test positive for COVID-19.

Reviewing the COVID-19 situation in the national capital on June 29, Kejriwal had expressed concern over the large size of the containment zones as it restricted the movement of a huge population, Gahlot said.

“For the past two days, an extensive review of containment zones was carried out with revenue and health officials. The result has been quite satisfactory. Against 715 containment zones affecting 348099 people, the number of containment zones is now down to 496, which affects the movement of 106211 people,” the minister said in the statement.

The Delhi government had been demanding changes in the containment zone norms as some restricted areas in the city were under a complete lockdown for three-four months, with a large number of people forced to stay indoors, a senior government official said.

He said the redesigning of the containment zones will affect a lesser number of people while pointing out that the Rajnagar containment zone in southwest Delhi, which affected around 43,000 residents earlier, will affect only about 1,600 people after the exercise.

All entry and exit points are barricaded in a containment zone to prevent any movement of the residents. Police personnel are deployed to keep a watch on it, while necessary supplies are provided to the people living in such zones at their doorstep.

As on July 27, there were 59 containment zones in Central district, 54 in East, 50 in New Delhi, 81 in North, 40 in North East, 49 in North West, 43 in Shahdara, 77 in South, 31 in South East, 127 in South West and 104 in West district, the CMO statement said.

However, on July 31, the number of containment zones was brought down to 496 — 39 in Central, 50 in East, 39 in New Delhi, 59 in North, 24 in North East, 28 in North West, seven in Shahdara, 50 in South, 30 in South East, 109 in South West, and 61 in West, it added.

The scaling down of containment zones is a result of the measures taken by the city government in terms of creating a robust healthcare system, including increased testing and stringent implementation of quarantine guidelines, it added. PTI

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