No lockdown, more areas could see stricter sealing in Gurugram

GURUGRAM: After days of discussions on implementing a limited lockdown in clusters in Gurugram, which now has seen nearly 5,000 Covid cases, the Haryana government said on Friday that curbs would be in the form of a stricter sealing of containment zones, instead of a larger lockdown.
Gurugram deputy commissioner Amit Khatri said while the government will continue working towards ‘unlocking’ and opening up the city, strict restrictions will be imposed in all containment zones and police will ensure full adherence. There are 106 containment zones in the city currently. Eleven large outbreak areas have also been identified.

“We are working towards unlocking and all measures are being taken by us for this. Imposing a lockdown is not the solution. However, areas where we are getting many cases will be put under containment and movement will not be allowed there,” Khatri said, adding, “We are identifying pockets in Gurugram that are contributing to a large number of Covid cases. We will put them in containment zones to curb the spread of the virus.”
The containment zones will have exit and entry points that will be properly guarded by police. No movement will be allowed inside the areas and shopping malls will not be opened in these areas. Containment teams will carry out intensive health screening through antigen kits and immunity booster kits will be distributed, Khatri said.
The decision was announced at the weekly Covid-19 press conference held on Friday. Earlier, there had been indications that the city might go into a limited lockdown for two weeks. Gurugram MLA Sudhir Singla had proposed a lockdown, even if a limited one, during chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s visit to the city a few days ago, saying restricting movement in certain areas was essential to dealing with the pandemic and would help implement the guidelines better.
On the measures that the administration plans to take in the containment zones, DCP headquarters, Nitika Gehlot, said that about 2,000 personnel have been posted on Covid-19 duty.
“We will enforce containment norms strictly in hotspots. We are geo-tagging Covid-19 patients with the help of Aarogya Setu app. We have received a list of 1,617 patients who didn’t install the app. Our teams are trying to reach them. We are also taking the help of the cyber cell for contact tracing,” Gehlot said, adding that five FIRs had been registered in cases where administrative staff and health department officials on contact tracing duty had been attacked by people.
“We have issued 4,000 challans to people for not wearing masks and collected Rs 11 lakh. We will continue this process. Our teams are also touring the rural belt to spread awareness about masks and other Covid-related issues,” Gehlot said.
Meanwhile, health department officials said that they have been conducting antigen tests in containment zones. “Those who tested negative were again tested with the conventional RT-PCR test. People with influenza-like illnesses (ILI) and high-risk contacts with comorbidities of confirmed Covid cases will also be tested,” said Gurugram chief medical officer Virender Yadav. On Friday, the city reported 93 new cases, taking its tally to 4,944. A total of 81 people have succumbed to the infection so far in the district.