Ghaziabad, Noida shift focus to containment zones

Noida and Ghaziabad will be intensifying containment measures in the wake of rising Covid-19 cases. As per the latest circular issued by the Uttar Pradesh government, the administrations of both districts will be demarcating containment zones for medical surveillance.

Till Monday, Ghaziabad reported 397 active cases while Noida has 544 patients infected with Covid. In the last two weeks, both districts have been reporting between 50-100 cases on a daily basis.

“As per the rules, in any area which has one Covid case, a containment zone of 25 metres will be set up. In the event there is more than one case, the zone will be extended to 50 metres. This exercise will help local administration and medical teams to carry out surveillance and enquiries to curb the infection spread. The idea is to trace contacts before the area becomes a cluster,” said Ajay Shankar Pandey, DM, Ghaziabad.

Officials clarified that there will be no restriction of movement in containment zones. The zones have been made for the purpose of surveillance and there will be no sealing of areas, said officials. The order will also not impact inter-state travel in the NCR.

Surveillance teams will include officials from the health and administrative departments along with local representatives from the block or containment zone concerned. Teams have been tasked to draw up physical demarcations of the zone and compile information of residents and possible cases.

For multi-storey buildings, in case of one case, the particular floor will be declared a containment zone, the order said. In the event of more than one case, the entire tower will be deemed a containment area. In case of no positive case for 14 days, the area will be removed from the containment zone list.

“Containment zones are redefined for the purposes of ‘medical surveillance activity’. In those areas, medical teams shall track contacts of Covid cases and symptomatic persons for the purposes of testing and isolation so that the chain of infection is broken,” said Suhas LY, DM, Gautam Buddh Nagar.