NEW DELHI: With the daily count of coronavirus cases hovering above the 1,000-mark, except for a couple of days at the beginning of this month, each district administration has been asked to focus on contact tracing, enhancement of testing and creation of micro containment zones to check the fatality rate.
Senior officials of the Delhi government said the idea to set up a small containment zone is also to minimise inconvenience to residents, where COVID-19 cases are reported.
“Till last week, the daily count of positive cases had fallen significantly, which was generally lesser than the number of people being discharged every day from hospitals or isolation facilities but the trend is reversing now,” said a senior official, associated with coronavirus management in the north and north-west districts.
Another district official, who is in charge of a couple of zones in the Central district, also endorsed a restriction on a smaller part — a cluster of two-three houses in congested localities.
“The policy to create micro containment has been very successful in the past and we also don’t face opposition from locals if a small portion of a locality is converted into a restricted zone,” he said. The official indicated because of slight modification in the planning to restrict the pandemic, the number of containment areas is set to rise once again in coming days.
Till Wednesday, there were 523 containment zones in Delhi. With 126 zones, the southwest district is on the top of the list. The city recorded less than 1,000 fresh cases on Monday. Last time, it happened continuously for three days earlier this month between August 2 and 4.
On July 20, the number went below 1,000-mark after a month when 954 people tested positive for the virus in 24 hours. The number was 990 on June 20.
On April 11, the number of cases crossed the 1,000- mark for the first time when 1,069 fresh cases were witnessed.
“Depending on population concentration, a cluster of two-three houses may be converted into a containment zone,” said the official. An official monitoring COVID management in the south district, said the officials would be returning to systematic testing after contact tracing.
“The situation is very much in control therefore the efforts are being made to prevent it from going out of hand. People have also become complacent,” the official said.
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