Fewer people in containment zones as Delhi adopts new strategy

As per the new guidelines, a containment zone can be de-sealed 14 days after the last Covid patient in the area has recovered. This duration was earlier 28 days and there were a few areas in the city that remained sealed for up to three months.




Restrictions on the movement of over two lakh people were removed after the containment zones in the city were reassessed based on revised guidelines. By Friday, the total number of containment zones in the city was 496, down from 715 on Monday. The number of people in these zones went from 3,48,099 on Monday to 1,06,211 on Friday.

As per the new guidelines, a containment zone can be de-sealed 14 days after the last Covid patient in the area has recovered. This duration was earlier 28 days and there were a few areas in the city that remained sealed for up to three months.

The Delhi government had written to the Centre, asking them to revise the policy for containment zones in the city as it restricted movement for a large number of people, making the exercise of sealing tricky for police and district officials.

Containment zones, as per rules, have to be sealed off completely and residents are not allowed to leave their houses. An area can be declared a containment zone if more than three Covid cases are found in the area in quick succession.

The district with the highest number of people in containment zone continues to be South Delhi. While it earlier had 79,130 people living in containment zones, the number dropped to 27,940 by Friday. South Delhi is followed by North Delhi, which now has 17,088 people living in containment zones, down from 25,884 earlier. The biggest change, however, was seen in South East Delhi district, where the number of people in sealed zones went from 73,612 on Monday to 7,517 on Friday.

The two districts with the least number of people in containment zones were Shahdara and North East Delhi where 1,327 and 1,535 people have restricted movement.

The list of containment zones was reviewed by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday. He also asked officials to analyse the situation at regular intervals and expressed concern at the large size of containment zones as it restricted movement of a large number of people. Earlier, Health Minister Satyendar Jain had also said there was a need to reassess the basis on which areas are kept sealed for months.

The number of cases in Delhi has been in the range of 1,000 to 1,100 over the past week. On Saturday, 1,118 new cases were reported. The total active cases in the city are 10,596, of whom 2,937 are in hospital. So far, 3,989 people have died of Covid-19.

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