No curfew, screening of all in 4 ‘red zones’

Rajeev Dikshit | TNN | Apr 7, 2020, 04:04 IST

Cops light candles on a barrier in the city

Varanasi: After Sunday’s announcement of imposing curfew in four localities where COVID-19 positive cases had come to light, the district administration took a U-turn on Monday by terming these isolated localities as ‘red zones’. However, all residents of the localities will be screened for the virus.
The administration has now started screening of all residents of these localities after sealing all entry points.
District magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma on Monday said, ”Four localities including Madanpura under the limits of Dashaswamedh police station, Bajardiha under Bhelupur, Gangapur under Mirzamurad and Lohta under the same police station area, have been declared red zone after sealing of all their entry points for 72 hours on Sunday.”
He said screening of each member of all families in the areas declared red zone was in progress and any decision for extending the people of sealing the entry points and restricting all kind of movement will be taken after the end of screening process and knowing its outcome. However, he skipped the quarries whether order for clamping curfew had been withdrawn.
After a 55-year-old trader of Gangapur town returned from Kolkata on April 3, his test report on April 4 came out COVID-19 positive. Besides, a woman from Bajardiha and two Tablighi Jamaat attendees in Madanpura and a youth in Lohta area were tested COVID-19 positive in past three days. In view of this, the DM on Sunday had announced that curfew had been clamped in these four localities, clarifying that curfew was not effective in other localities of the same four police station areas.
He said till the process of screening of all the persons of these localities is completed, all restrictions will remain in place. He said that movement of police in narrow streets of infected areas has also not been allowed due to which drone cameras are being utilised for monitoring the areas.