Prayagraj: Health department officials are maintaining a strict vigil to check the spread of novel coronavirus. While Prayagraj district’s recovery rate has reached 94.7%, the number of containment zones has also reduced to 519. Officials are focussing on testing of close contacts of Covid-19 patients to check the spread of the disease.
The city has reported less than 100 active cases in the past 48 hours. On Monday and Tuesday, 65 and 63 new Covid-19 cases were recorded in the city respectively.
Additional chief medical officer (ACMO) and nodal officer Dr Rishi Sahai said, “Of the 26,112 Covid-19 cases recorded in the city, 24,729 have recovered till now. We are focussing on tracing and testing close contacts of Covid-19 patients to check the spread of the disease. The health department is testing around 6,000 samples every day.” Till now, 340 patients have succumbed to Covid-19 in the district so far.
Officials said that there were many reasons behind the decline in the number of containment zones and Covid-19 cases. “We had appealed to people to get themselves tested if they develop any Covid-19 related symptoms. Acting as responsible citizens, they contacted the nearest health centre and get themselves tested. Early detection of cases is helping authorities in treating patients properly.”
In April, the health department had declared the first containment zone in the city. By early July, as Covid-19 cases rose, an area was declared a containment zone if three or more positive cases were reported from there. The city saw the maximum number of containment zones in August and September.
Meanwhile, police has taking strict action against those found not wearing masks in public places. So far, police has penalised over 3,000 residents for not wearing masks while stepping out their homes. A senior police official said, “If someone is caught not wearing a mask, cops ask them to fill up a ‘Sankalp Letter’, so that they always wear one the next time they step out from the homes.”