Randeep Guleria said the containment zones should be like “mini lockdown so people cannot go out”.
New Delhi:
The second Covid wave having taken the daily surge across the 1 lakh mark in a first in the country, Dr Randeep Guleria — chief of Delhi’s All-India Institute of Medical Sciences — today underscored the need for mini containment zones, which should work like areas under lockdown. Calling the situation “very worrying”, Dr Guleria, who is also a key member of the government’s Covid Task Force, said, “If we can’t have a complete lockdown, we need to have containment zones”.
A countrywide lockdown is not seen an option now, given the experience of last year. Not only had the economy suffered, thousands of migrant labourers were left with no income overnight, providing the opposition with a potent tool against the BJP-led Central government.
So far, some of the 10 states that are driving the surge have opted for partial lockdowns. Maharashtra, which is again suffering the worst, has declared weekend lockdowns and night curfews.
Dr Guleria suggested that containment zones, introduced last year as the lockdown was phased out, be used again as a strategy to contain the virus.
The containment zones, he said, should be like “mini lockdown so people cannot go out and a lot of testing tracking and isolation should be going on in these areas. Everyone who are in close contact (of patients) should be tested aggressively”.
Pointing out that the rate of rise in daily Covid figures is “very steep” compared to the last time, he said, “The figures crossed 1 lakh in a very short period of time and therefore we need some aggressive things and need to have a strategy in place”.
