Gurugram zooms in on 10 areas, may mark them as clusters

GURUGRAM: Ten more areas in the city could be identified as Covid-19 clusters and are expected to be added to the list of large outbreak regions (LORs). A recommendation in this regard was forwarded by the health department on Tuesday to the district administration, which is likely to release the final list on Wednesday.

Sources said that the areas recommended by the health department include Lakshman Vihar, Mullahera, Rajiv Nagar, Nathupur, Choma, Firoz Gandhi colony, Patel Nagar, Om Nagar and Sohna. A few areas from the previous list, including areas that fall under the Patel Nagar primary health centre, are likely to be retained due to their high Covid case load.
LORs were identified to regulate the movement in the areas that have reported a higher number of Covid cases. On June 26, the district magistrate had specified the restrictions to be imposed in LORs to contain the spread of Covid-19. The health department started conducting rapid antigen testing in these areas on July 1 and was directed to hold them till July 14.
“It is a dynamic process. We are assessing the zones that have already been notified and will come up with an order. The restrictions will continue in some of the areas. They won’t be completely abolished,” said deputy commissioner Amit Khatri.
Health department officials said the new areas recommended in the list have seen a spike in cases over the past two weeks.
“The administration will release the final list of large outbreak regions. After the final list is notified, the health department will conduct rapid antigen testing, RT-PCR and surveys in these areas. We will also identify people with influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) symptoms,” said chief medical officer Virender Yadav.
A total of 14 camps have been organised by the health department for rapid antigen testing. Out of these, 11 are in LORs. “About 24,482 tests were conducted in the camps. Out of this, 680 have tested positive,” said district surveillance officer Jai Prakash.
While containment zones are areas where five or more Covid cases have been reported, large outbreak regions have 15 or more cases.
Currently, LORs include Dundahera-police station road, Aggarwal Sweets Gali (Sector 21), Dundahera Community Centre, Vishal Mega Mart street (ward 4); Arjun Nagar, Jyoti Park, Madan Puri (ward 16); Rattan Garden, Shivpuri Inn (ward 17), Shivaji Nagar, Shanti Nagar (ward 20); Baldev Nagar, Firoz Gandhi Colony, Ravi Nagar (ward 21); Heera Nagar, Gandhi Nagar, Shivaji Park (ward 22); Hari Nagar, Shakti Park (ward 23) and Nathupur abadi (ward 35).