Moti Bagh’s ‘containment zone’ is fully cut off, except telephonically
Only police patrol vehicles, sanitation workers, officials are now allowed in; beat cops to help gather essentials
nNEW DELHI: It was a busy day for Suraj Singh Pradhan as he fielded callsfromawiderangeofpeoplein his slum neighbourhood in South Moti Bagh, which has emerged as city’s first coronavirus containment zone beyond the two cluster hot spots of Dilshad Garden and Nizamuddin.
Pradhan told HT on the phone that as per instructions of the district administration he is now the conduit for all communication betweenlocalsintheslumandthe government machinery after one ofitsresidents—acontractualsanitation worker at the AIIMS Trauma Centre—tested positive forcovid-19onsaturday.whilehe wasadmittedtotherammanohar Lohia Hospital, his family was shifted to a quarantine centre in Chhattarpur.
Thecommunityleader’sphone rangoffthehookonsunday.while fellowareadwellers,nowquarantined at home, called Pradhan to arrange for milk, vegetables and other essentials, the police called intermittentlytoaskiflocalswere adheringtothelockdownandsanitation workers called to check if there were any disinfectants left from the batch received in the morning.
The development has left residentsanxiousaboutthepossibility of community spread, several of whom spoke with HT over the phone.
Rishiraj Pal, a 20-year-old residentoftheslum,saidthefearinthe slumwaspalpable.“policemenare patrollingthearearoundtheclock ready to thrash people spotted roamingthestreets.butmorethan that,wearescaredoftheinfection. We don’t know if staying home would actually protect us. But what else can we do,” he said.
Withinhoursoftheresultbeing declared,threeoutoffourconnectingroutestotheslumfromthering Road,thesouthmotibaghmarket andinterconnectedlanesthatlead tothesouthcampusoftheuniversity of Delhi were blocked using trucks. The fourth exit route was barricadedbythepolice,allowing only patrol vehicles, sanitation workersandgovernmentofficials toentertheareainhabitedbymore than 1,000 families.
HT went to the neighbourhood onsundaytillthepermissiblelimits set by the police and district administration.
An area of around 1 sqkm was turned into a containment zone withastricterversionoftheongoing lockdown imposed here. All shops, including those selling essentials, were closed, sanitisation workers were seen spraying disinfectants at regular intervals anddoor-to-doordriveswereconductedtwiceadaybygovernment officials to check if any of the residents of the slum had developed any flu-like symptoms, said a senior officer in Delhi government’s revenue department.
“Theresidentshavebeenasked to stay inside their homes and call thebeatstaff,localpolicestation,or hunger helpline over the phone if they need food, ration or other essentialitems.theotheroptionis to call their community leader (Pradhan), who can further send themessageacross.arrangements have been made to get the essentials delivered at the slum so the residents do not have to venture out,”saiddeputycommissionerof police(southwest)devenderarya.
“The residents have been briefed about the symptoms and that they must alert the police if they see anyone flouting the lockdown rules. Anyone violating the quarantine order will face legal action,” he added.
“About15healthstaffersuseda tanker of 15,000 litres of diluted sodiumhypocloritetosanitisethe area,” said a senior official of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC).
THE CONTAINMENT PLAN
As per the “containment plan” on the Union health ministry’s website, any movement has been prohibitedwithinacontainmentzone to prevent local transmission of Covid-19. The size of the containment zone, as suggested by the guideline,isdirectlyproportional to the population density of the clusterinquestionandthescaleof the outbreak.
Inthecaseofsouthmotibagh’s, 1,000 families live in the affected slum and its periphery, while its “buffer zone” includes another slum,agurudwara,atemple,a247 petrol pump and a market.
“Theclustercontainmentstrategywouldbetocontainthedisease within a defined geographic area by detecting cases in the nascent stage, breaking the chain of transmissionandpreventingitsspread to new areas. This would include geographicquarantine,socialdistancingmeasures,enhancedactive surveillance,testingallsuspected cases, isolation of cases, quarantineofcontactsandriskcommunicationtocreateawarenessamong publiconpreventivepublichealth measures,”documentuploadedby thehealthministryonitswebsite.
“Geographical containment strategies, however, were being discussed since the day the lockdownwasimposed,”saidanofficial in the Union health ministry.
IMPLEMENTATION AS PER DEMOGRAPHY
However,statesandunionterritories have implemented containment strategies in conformation withthelocaldemography.acomparison between Delhi and Mumbaihighlightsthedifferenceswell.
Mumbai has created 241 containment zones in the past seven days,virtuallylockingdownapopulation of around 9,00,000 people, HT had published on Saturday. In Mumbai, a containment zone meansatleastonepersonfromthe areatestedpositiveforcovid-19. Thepatient’sfamilyandthebuilding are identified as a cluster zone and at least four to five adjoining buildingsonallsidesaremappedin the containment zone, depending on the area’s population density. Mumbaitooconfrontsconcernsof possiblecommunitytransmission after cases were reported at slum clusters in Dharavi.
“Indelhi,wehaveadoptedadifferent approach,” said the senior revenue department official.
Heelaborated.thecityhastwo clusterhotspots–dilshadgarden, where a woman who returned fromsaudiarabiawasthesource ofinfectionfornumerousrelatives, neighbours,twodoctorsandtheir patients,andnizamuddinwherea congregation of the Tablighi Jamaat was organised in March.
Thecontainmentzonesinthese twohotspotsareas,among22identifiedinthecountry,rangebetween 3 sqkm and 5 sqkm.
“Beyond hotspots, localities in whichpositivecaseswerereported were subjected to intense surveillanceandisolationnormsbutthey were not converted into geographic containment zones. It would be unnecessary to create multiple containment zones. The strategy should be efficiently deployed,” said the officer.
Districtmagistrate(newdelhi) Tanvi Garg, who is in charge of South Moti Bagh area, and additionalchiefsecretarysatyagopal, whoisinchargeofthemonitoring of the coronavirus prevention exerciseindelhididnotrespondto phone calls and messages.
The government has maintained that India is yet to slip into thecommunitytransmissionstage inwhichthesourceofinfectionfor apersonbecomesdifficulttoascertain. So far, the coronavirus diseasehasclaimedatleast64,000lives acrosstheworldandatleast114in India.