Covid-19: Now, more cases coming up in state’s urban areas
OFFICIALS SAY REASON BEHIND HIKE IS OPENING UP OF COMMERCIAL AND OTHER ACTIVITIES BESIDES VIOLATION OF SOCIAL DISTANCING IN CROWDED PLACES
CHANDIGARH:With the opening up of commercial and other activities, more Covid-19 cases are being reported in the urban pockets of Punjab as compared to the rural areas, reveals the latest data of the health department.
While the state’s cities and towns had only 20% of the total cases till April, the figure went up to 32% by June-end.
State Covid-19 nodal officer Dr Rajesh Bhaskar said, “Till April, the rural areas were home to around 80% of the total cases. But with the commercial activities resuming and the state and the central governments issuing guidelines to increase timings of movement, the urban segments have witnessed more cases in May and June.” Till mid-May, more cases were recorded in rural areas as majority of the patients at the time were Sikh pilgrims from Maharashtra’s Nanded who returned to their villages. “As wheat harvesting was also on, the migrant workers who had come from other states also contributed to the infection tally in rural areas till April. That is why 20% of the patients were from urban areas with majority of them having come from overseas,” said the nodal officer.
He said the biggest reason behind the surge in cases in urban segments is the violation of social-distancing norms in crowed places.
MAJORITY OF CONTAINMENT ZONES IN TOWNS
The health department has classified various zones in the state according to the reported number of cases. Whereas a locality with 2-4 cases is categorised as a cluster, the areas with 5-14 cases are declared as micro-containment zone. On the other hand, the areas with more than 15 cases are declared containment zone.
At present, the state’s all four large outbreaks are in the urban pockets of Sangrur, Amritsar and Ludhiana. Of Punjab’s 34 containment zones, 20 are in towns and cities with most of the cases there having surfaced in June, shows the data.
“Almost all these urban or semi-urban areas are crowded as they have high-population density. As people living in these areas venture out to earn livelihood, the risk of getting infected is more,” an official said.