Mominpura tally over 300 despite being containment zone for 62 days

Nagpur: The total Covid-19 cases from Mominpura containment zone in Central Nagpur swelled to 301 after 15 more persons tested positive on Thursday. The city’s second hotspot is seeing a spike despite restriction on people’s movement inside and outside for the last 62 days.
As a proactive measure, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) is conducting special camps to test pregnant women, senior citizens and high-risk persons. A special camp was held on Wednesday in which swab samples of 59 were taken. Out of them, nine tested positive on Thursday. Remaining six persons are close contacts and persons quarantined after couple of persons tested positive earlier.
Mominpura, one of the most congested areas of the city, had registered its first case when a cap seller, whose digital footprint was traced to Nizamuddin, tested positive on April 4. It has been a containment zone since then but new cases are being reported almost on a daily basis.
The zone registered first 100 cases in 34 days following mass quarantine of 316 persons on May 4. Out of them, 85 tested positive on May 6 and 7.
Later on, the civic body did only contact tracing. Still, 200 more cases were registered, out of which first 100 in just 11 days and next 100 in 18 days.
Seven personnel of State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) and two policemen who were deployed in the zone contracted the infection. Also, 15 persons including caretaker of NMC’s night shelter have tested positive too. A private medical practitioner who was doing social work was also infected.
Over 1,600 persons have been quarantined from this zone which has registered three deaths so far. A 70-year-old man died while undergoing treatment in IGGMCH’s Covid-19 isolation ward on April 29. A 56-year-old woman admitted at IGGMCH for kidney dialysis died on May 17. Her samples were tested positive on May 18.
A 54-year-old woman cancer patient was admitted at IGGMCH on May 24 and died on May 25. She tested positive five minutes before death.
Municipal commissioner Tukaram Mundhe told TOI, “We were able to break Covid chain in Satranjipura and around 75% area was excluded from containment zone. The same was done at Gaddigodam. But cases are still coming from Mominpura zone as people are not cooperating with the administration and not giving true and detailed information of contact persons of positive patients,” he said.
This zone is probably the only locality from Vidarbha to register 300 cases. Cases from Satranjipura, city’s first hotspot, came to a halt after the count reached 131.
NMC zonal medical officer Dr Khwaja Moinuddin said, “People gathered in large numbers on Thursday to oppose quarantine and testing of contact persons of few people. A person from a building in Mominpura Chowk, who was admitted at IGGMCH few days ago, tested positive. Despite our appeal to residents, they said only three persons from the building will be quarantined and tested. The next lot, they said, will come if earlier ones test positive.”
“When two of them tested positive, only eight came forward. Out of them five tested positive. People residing in other two wings of building are not ready for testing despite appealing for last three days,” he said.
The central government’s Rapid Response Team had noted that city registered fewer deaths due to mass quarantine, proper contact tracing and treatment to positive patients in initial stage itself.