NCR Braces For Rigorous Curbs

Door-to-door checking, tighter containment, aggressive tracking & mass sanitisation drive-in phase 2 of lockdown

- Gulam Jeelani and Pankaj Jain

A BIGGER deployment of ‘Corona warriors’, disinfection drives on a war footing and door-to-door surveys are critical elements of the strategy to restrict the spread of Coronavirus in Delhi, one of the worst infected in the country.

The Delhi government has so far identified 55 containment zones as ‘red zones’ and high-risk areas as ‘orange zones’ across the city where a massive sanitisation drive will be conducted in the coming days using 60 machines, including 10 huge ones made in Japan. An additional 14,000 ‘Corona Foot Warriors,’ comprising booth level officers (during elections), will be on ground across Delhi to spread awareness about the pandemic and keep a tight vigil. While stringent measures will be in place in the existing and yet-to-be-announced containment zones and hotspots (areas that report confirmed COVID-19 cases), officials from the local administration and health departments would launch extensive door-to-door surveys and disinfection drives in Delhi, Noida, and Gurugram. Postgraduate students from medical colleges would also be pressed into service.

A WORRIED KEJRIWAL

In Delhi, with 1,561 confirmed cases till Tuesday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was among the first to welcome the announcement of extending the lockdown till May 3 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.