Delhi's New Challenge: 20,000 Homes In Quarantine

Police track phones of all these suspect cases, 40 FIRs lodged for jumping isolation Authorities also struggle to safely dispose biomedical waste from these households.

- Ajay Kumar and Gulam Jeelani

Sunday's 58 Coronavirus infection cases took the overall number in Delhi to 503, including 320 linked to the Tablighi Jamaat. More than 5,000 attendees, suspected to be COVID-19 patients, are in hospitals.

Amid all this, a new challenge has reared its head: 20,000 quarantined homes in the National Capital.

The number of people quarantined at home so far is 45,616, including 22,716 with foreign travel history and 22,850 who came in contact with them.

Of them, 25,605 have completed their 14-day isolation. The remaining 20,011 are completing their 14day quarantine period. “About 20,000 houses have been marked quarantined. Additionally, 3,312 people are under quarantine at 19 government facilities in Delhi,” said a government official.

COPS SWEAT

The police were asked last week to track all those placed under home quarantine. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that his government has handed over 25,000 phone numbers, in two batches, to cops for this purpose. He said the move was inspired by countries such as Singapore where technology has been used to enforce quarantines.

The police said a tight vigil is being kept on them. We’re using physical as well as technical surveillance. Beat cops pay regular visits to these houses and also talk to neighbours. Local sources are also being used to keep an eye. CCTV footage monitoring is being done too along with mobile network tracking, said a senior police official.