Containment zones down from 715 to 496

New Delhi: The number of COVID-19 containment zones has come down to 496 in Delhi after an extensive review by the AAP government, providing relief to thousands of people living in such restricted areas.

The number of containment zones was 715 in Delhi by the end of July, affecting nearly 3.5 lakh people. With the number going down to 496, the movement of only about one lakh people will be affected, Revenue Minister Kailash Gahlot said in a statement on Saturday.

The review of the containment zones by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government comes after a Union health ministry memorandum earlier this week, allowing all states and Union territories to de-notify a containment zone 14 days after the discharge of the last COVID-19 patient, officials said. Earlier such a de-notification could be done 28 days after the discharge of the last patient.

"As desired by Honble CM @ArvindKejriwal all the containment zones in Delhi were extensively reviewed in last 2 days with each District DM and surveillance Team," Gahlot said in a tweet. A locality is declared a containment zone by the district authorities in Delhi if three or more persons there test positive for COVID-19.

Reviewing the COVID-19 situation in the national capital on June 29, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had expressed concern over the large size of the containment zones as it restricted the movement of a huge population, Gahlot said.

"During the last two days, an extensive review of containment zones was carried out with Revenue and Health officials. The result has been quite satisfactory. Against 715 containment zones affecting 348099 people, the number of containment zones is now down to 496, which affects the movement of 106211 people," the minister said in the statement.

The situation was again re-assessed by the chief minister, who directed such reviews at regular intervals.

The Delhi government had been demanding changes in the containment zone norms as some restricted areas in the city were under a complete lockdown for three-four months with a large number of people forced to stay indoors, a senior government officer said.

He said the redesigning of the containment zones will affect a lesser number people, while pointing out that the Rajnagar containment zone in southwest Delhi, which affected around 43,000 residents earlier, will affect only about 1,600 people after the exercise.

The national Capital is now on 12th position among states and union territories in terms of active cases of COVID-19, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said on Saturday.

Jain said on Saturday the rate of doubling of cases in Delhi at present is around 50 days while "it is probably 32 days on an average nationally".

Meanwhile, Delhi on Saturday recorded 1,118 fresh coronavirus cases, and 26 deaths due to the disease in the last 24 hours. The city has so far recorded a total of 1,36,716 cases, of which 1,22,131 have recovered, been discharged or migrated. There are 10,596 active cases, of which 5,660 are under home isolation. The death toll due to the disease is 3,989.

Meanwhile, the second round of sero-prevalence survey began in the national Capital on Saturday, with the five-day exercise set to cover all districts and various demographic segments.

The exercise is being undertaken for a comprehensive assessment of the COVID-19 situation in Delhi.