Gzb makes plan to keep virus-free areas secure
The Ghaziabad administration has chalked out a plan to protect gram panchayats and residential wards with zero Covid-19 cases.
Officials called the plan a “voluntary community containment programme”.
“We have 161 gram panchayats and after a survey, we found that 44 of them have no Covid-19 cases. Likewise, a survey has been assigned to the municipal corporation to find out Covid-free wards and maintain the status there by undertaking different measures. The corporation’s survey is on,” said Ajay Shankar Pandey, district magistrate, Ghaziabad.
“In gram panchayats, we have come up with isolation centres at community halls. Any person who may show signs of the disease will not be allowed to enter the village, but will be asked to stay in an isolation centre till they test negative for Covid-19. The gram chowkidars have been assigned the role of keeping an eye on residents to follow all Covid protocols. In urban areas, we will take the help of resident welfare associations to keep a check in their respective areas,” Pandey added.
According to records of the
health department, urban segments such as Indirapuram had the highest number of cases (1,191) in the district during the first 20 days of May, followed by 1,117 in the Carte segment (comprising of localities like Shastri Nagar and Chiranjiv Vihar, among others). Sahibabad
had 1,064 cases while Vaishali had 659 and Vasundhara had 573 cases during the same period.
There are 100 residential wards under the corporation’s jurisdiction.
Detailing the steps, the DM said that the wards will be categorised as per their Covid status – Covid-affected, partially affected or Covid-free wards.
“Wards having Covid cases already have containment zones, and our focus is to maintain the status quo in wards which have no active cases. On the other hand, we have asked to open up 140 health sub-centres in rural areas where testing will start soon with the help of rapid antigen kits,” Pandey added.
In rural segments, Modinagar, from May 1 to 20, saw 882 cases against 451 in April. Likewise, Muradnagar witnessed 709 cases in the first 20 days of May, as against 445 in all of April.
According to state control room figures of April 21, the Ghaziabad district had overall 53,702 Covid cases with 49,997 discharged, besides 405 Covidrelated deaths and 3,300 active cases.
During his recent visit to Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath had directed officials to focus on rural segments and curb cases there. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his online interaction with officials and district magistrates, including those from Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar on Thursday, has stressed that rural India be made Covid free.