10 new red zones identified, sanitisation drive from today
New Delhi: The number of Coronavirus containment zones in Delhi rose to 43 on Sunday, while Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced a massive sanitisation drive in the COVID-19 affected and high-risk areas, classified as red and orange zones respectively.
According to a bulletin issued by the Delhi's Health department, the number of Coronavirus cases rose to 1,154 in the national Capital while the death toll reached 24, with five fresh fatalities.
Addressing an online briefing, Kejriwal said 10 technologically-advanced machines from Japan along with 50 Delhi Jal Board sanitisation machines will be used as part of sanitisation drive under 'Operation SHIELD' from Monday.
The operation launched by the AAP government has been successful in Dilshad Garden in northeast Delhi which was a hotspot until now.
"No new case of COVID-19 has been reported in Dilshad Garden in the last 10 days due to Operation SHIELD," he said.
Sealing, home quarantine, isolation and tracking, essential supply, local sanitisation and door-to-door checking are the key aspects of 'SHIELD' in any containment area. Till Sunday evening, 10 more hotspots in the national Capital were identified as COVID-19 containment zones or red zones, taking the figure to 43 with southeast Delhi having the most at 12 zones.
"We have declared COVID-19 containment zones as red zones and high-risk zones as orange zones. We have identified more containment zones in the national Capital," he said.
The CM expressed concern about the increasing number of Coronavirus cases in the city and said that steps were being taken to contain the spread of the virus. According to a Delhi government official, Chief Secretary Vijay Dev has directed officers to strictly monitor the containment zones and follow all laid down procedures.
Close on the heels of southeast district, East Delhi has nine Coronavirus containment zones, followed by Shahdara at five and West Delhi at four.
While south, southwest and central Delhi have three containment zones each, New Delhi and North district each have two such zones.
Mansara Apartments in Vasundra Enclave, Street Number 9 in Pandav Nagar and Vardhaman Apartments in Mayur Vihar Phase-1 Extension are among 43 containment zones.
According to the health bulletin, 14,036 people have been tested so far, of which 1,154 have tested positive and 11,748 negative. Reports of 984 cases are awaited.
On the recent announcement of giving Rs 5,000 to every autorickshaw, gramin-sewa and taxi driver in wake of the ongoing lockdown, he said they can apply for the fund from Monday through transport department's website after submitting their bank account details.
"An applicant who has valid driving license and badge will be able to avail the benefit under the scheme," the CM said.
He said that the government has been giving free-ration to 72 lakh people, adding that around 23 lakh people, who don't have ration cards, are also being provided with ration.
