In positive zone? Stay in for 28 days

According to new circular, 5-km radius around containment zone will be buffer

Published: 19th April 2020 06:45 AM  |   Last Updated: 19th April 2020 06:45 AM   |  A+A A-

A vegetable vendor brings his truck and arranges them neatly outside an apartment twice a week. Residents shop keeping the restrictions in mind which is supervised by the association on Thursday in Bengaluru. (Photo | Meghana Sastry/EPS)

By S Lalitha
Express News Service

BENGALURU: With the number of COVID-19 positive cases increasing in the state, the government has come out with revised guidelines to manage containment zones. According to a circular issued by Chief Secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar on Saturday, the area around the house of a patient will be considered a containment zone until no new case is reported within 28 days of the last positive case in the area or if there are less than 10 primary and secondary contacts under active home quarantine.

It also pointed out that if a COVID-19 patient is in an apartment complex, the entire block will be as a containment zone. In case of an independent house or villa, a 100-metre radius it will be declared as a containment zone. In rural areas, the complete habitation area of a COVID-19 patient will be declared a containment zone.

The area within a 5-km radius of a containment zone in an urban area will be considered as a buffer and in rural areas the scope is enhanced to a radius of  7 km. While an ‘incident commander’ will be appointed to each containment zone, there will be a special team in place to monitor the area. There will also be mobile teams to enforce lockdown in containment zones.

The zones will be cordoned off with hard barricading by the police. In Bengaluru, BBMP will maintain the  overall sanitation in the containment zones. There will be no entry or exit of people in the containment zones. For essential services, the police should provide entry or exit passes for the suppliers, according to the guidelines. The health department will have 50 teams for surveillance who will check on the SARI and ILI cases and refer them to fever clinics or isolation hospitals.

Highlights
Containment  zone is a well-defined area around the residence of confirmed cases

People cannot go out, essentials will be provided

With just one positive case in an apartment, entire building will be containment zone

For slum areas,  100 metres around the positive cases will be contained

Buffer zone will be the extended area of containment zone: 7 km in Urban, 5 km in rural

50 health teams to check on SARI and ILI casesPolice to ensure complete barricading and no entry of vehicles, or any people in these zones