Dundahera emerges as hotspot, over 5k screened

Gurgaon: With 28 positive cases so far, Dundahera, located right next to the Delhi-Gurgaon border near Kapashera, is fast emerging as a hotspot.
The first case was reported on April 29 in Dundahera, where more than 1 lakh people live in tiny rooms and social distancing norms are difficult to maintain. So far, 200 samples have been collected in the area and more tests are being done.
A number of Covid cases that have been added to the Gurgaon tally recently are from Dundahera. Between May 1 and 16, Gurgaon has seen around 140 positive cases.
Officials said the new cases in Dundahera are mostly contacts of patients who had tested positive earlier.
Among them is a person whose son was admitted to RML Hospital in Delhi and is believed to have got infected there. He had visited Dundahera village, where he stays in a rented accommodation, and is likely to have infected many more.
Residents of Dundahera mainly work as daily wage labourers and domestic staff and security guards in high-rises. Some also work in construction sites in various areas of the city. “Our teams have been collecting random samples of people in the area to curb the spread of the virus,” Gurgaon chief medical officer J S Punia said.
“The area is being disinfected every day by the health department. Currently, 2,000 high-risk contacts of Covid patients are being identified in the area and they would be monitored,” he added.
According to the health department, people with underlying health issues and those above the age of 60 are considered “high-risk” if they are in the contact chain of a person who has tested positive.
“We have screened more than 5,000 people in Dundahera and are continuing with the process. We are also planning to increase the collection of samples in other clusters,” said Punia.