A high-level committee set up by Home Minister Amit Shah has recommended quarantine of contacts of all COVID-19 positive cases in Delhi and re-mapping of all containment zones to check the rapid spread of the Corona virus infection in the national capital. Chairing a high level meeting yesterday, where report of Dr. V.K. Paul Committee was presented, the Home Minister advised the Delhi Government to implement the containment strategy recommended by the committee.
Home Ministry said, in a statement, that the committee has recommended that the containment zones will be drawn afresh and strict vigil and control should be maintained on their borders and the activities that take place inside them. It suggested that contact tracing should be done for all infected people and once identified, such contacts should be quarantined. The Aarogya Setu and Itihaas apps should be jointly used to accomplish this task.
The meeting was attended by Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal among others. The committee headed by Dr. V. K. Paul, Member of Niti Aayog, was set up by Mr Shah on 14th of this month. It has suggested that all locations outside containment zones should be chronicled and monitored so that a comprehensive data on Delhi is available. The committee has also recommended that COVID-19 affected people should be treated in hospitals, COVID Care Centres or in home isolation.
COVID Care Centres should function properly and help of NGOs and volunteer groups should be taken for this job. As per the recommendations of the committee, every district of Delhi will be linked with a big hospital for extending appropriate medical help to people affected by the coronavirus. The committee has also charted a time table for accomplishing these tasks. It has suggested that every case of death should be analyzed from the point of when the person was admitted to hospital and from which area was the deceased brought.
The panel said, it should be very important to find if the deceased was in home isolation and if he or she was brought to the hospital on time. Every death should be reported to the Centre. The Home Minister said, all COVID-19 positive patients will have to go to COVID Care Centres and those who have facilities at home and have no co-morbidity can avail home isolation in Delhi. He also said, the Centre should be informed as to how many people are in home isolation in the national capital. He asked Delhi Government authorities to take technical help for drawing the new or amended limits for containment zones in Delhi.
As per the timetable, the new scheme should be ready by 22nd June, district level teams should formed by 23rd June and the amended or new limits of containment zones should be ready by 26th of June. Hundred per cent survey of containment zones should be done by 30th June and a comprehensive survey for the rest of Delhi should be done by 6th of July. A sereological survey will be done for Delhi between 27th June to 10th July in which 20,000 people will be sample tested.
This will enable authorities to make a comprehensive analysis of the COVID-19 infection in Delhi and then a broad strategy can be prepared to combat the pandemic in the national capital. Meanwhile, Delhi Government has directed all District Magistrates to ensure that the daily reported cases of Corona virus are verified within 24 hours and scale up their operations by constituting additional surveillance teams if needed.
