Delhi: 6 new zones on red alert, total 55

AlokKNMishra | TNN | Updated: Apr 15, 2020, 05:46 IST

An EDMC sanitation worker sprays disinfectants at a ‘contained’ colony in east Delhi’s Jhilmil

NEW DELHI: The Covid-19 red zones expanded to six more areas in the capital on Tuesday, taking the total number of containment zones to 55.
In the past seven days, the number has gone up rapidly with Delhi government marking any area reporting three or more positive cases as the red zone. Just a week ago, the count stood at just eight. Except for North West district, Delhi’s 10 other districts now have containment zones, with South East having the highest at 13. North East district got its first containment zone on Tuesday.
The new zones are Bara Hindu Rao area and Nawab Ganj in Central district; house no. 62, Gali no. 4 under B block in Shastri Nagar in North East district; Gali nos. 1, 2 & 3, Block D, Sangam Vihar in South East district; entire gali starting from house nos. G-54 to F-107 and entire gali from house nos. CN-854 to 137 in Chhuriya Mohalla in Tughlaqabad village, South district; 1100 Wali Gali, 1200 Wali Gali and 1300 Wali Gali under H-3 block in North district’s Jahangirpuri.
Late on Monday night, shop no. J-4/49 at Khirki Extension, and Jain Mohalla and Pandit Mohalla in Chirag Delhi were declared as red zones.
While no containment zone has been created in North West district, the local authorities are holding review meetings every day.
With 51 new cases in the past 24 hours, Delhi now has 1,561 Covid-19 cases. All containment zones have been completely sealed and the areas around them have been declared as orange or buffer zones to undertake extensive virus containment exercises. All entry and exit points to these areas have been barricaded and police personnel deployed to prevent any unauthorised movement. Special arrangements have been made to provide essential services in these areas.
The sensitive areas are being marked as red zones to keep these areas under strict observation and monitoring to stall the spread of the novel coronavirus infection, while the buffer zones have been created to strengthen the drive.
An extensive screening drive has been launched to detect all Covid-19 suspects. An elaborate sanitisation exercise is also being carried out by the urban local bodies inside the red zones. A drive to trace people who came in contact with the Covid-19 patients is also going on in both zones and all of them will be screened and tested, said an official.