Are you living in a hotspot?

TNN | Updated: Apr 8, 2020, 22:26 IST

Are you living in a pandemic hotspot? Can you walk up to a store to buy your grocery if you were in the zone?
That’s the “hot” question since Uttar Pradesh government’s order on Wednesday evening declaring particular areas in as many as 15 districts of the state as “hotspots”, effective from Wednesday midnight.
State government officials say districts where six or more cases have been detected were chosen to identify hotspots within. “It was on the discretion of the committees set up in every district to identify hotspots based on risk assessment and whether people were taking the lockdown seriously. An area is earmarked based on assessment following apprehension and the probability of high degree of spread,” said a government official.

“It is a geographical area, which could be a mohalla a colony or a sector, where the probability of community spread is high,” said IG (Agra range) A Satish Ganesh. Agra district in UP has the largest number of hotspots – 22 – of all the 15 districts.
“A smaller area can also be declared a hotspot if a person has tested positive or has travel history or members of the Tablighi Jamaat have been found seeking shelter,” said Lucknow additional district magistrate Vishwa Bhushan Mishra.
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Lucknow has eight major hotspots and four minor ones. Among the minor ones, two houses were sealed. While in a house in Gomtinagar, a family of four was found positive, in another house one elderly was found positive. While these two homes have been sealed, the area was not declared a hotspot.
While the Bhilwara model, with its “ruthless” containment of Covid-19 spread, was acknowledged by the Centre as a template, hotspots in UP would entail a strict regimen for those living in these zones – from rigorous door-to-door checks to stricter enforcement of lockdown orders.
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Every hotspot will see a rigorous door-to-door monitoring to draw up an epidemic tree to trace every person from primary contact to people they have been in touch with. This will be followed by compulsory testing.
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Apart from this, all entry and exit points are barred to stop movement of people in and out of the area.
“No one living in a hotspot would be allowed to go to the market, even for essential commodities, including medicines. These can be ordered and would be supplied to homes. Only ambulances, in case of a medical emergency, can enter with permission. Media too is barred from entering a hotspot,” said Mishra. The whole area will be sanitized regularly.