What lockdown extension in containment zones means to Vizag District?

Reacting to the press note, released by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, the Visakhapatnam District Collector, V Vinay Chand (IAS), addressed the media on Saturday evening. He conveyed on what the extended lockdown in containment zones has in store for the Vizag District. The containment zones are created when a cluster of cases breakout in a location. Following which, this particular location, along with the surrounding area, is put under strict quarantine regulations. A list must be maintained of all the people who have come from abroad and from national hotspot areas such as Delhi.

The Collector informed that Vizag District comes under the orange zone, as of now, he stated that there are 10 containment zones within the Districts under the lockdown extension. He said that further instructions, from the Central Government, are awaited to make the necessary changes under the extended lockdown. There have been positive cases in the Narasipatnam Municipality, in the past, but no new cases have been reported in the last 20 days. So, there is a high chance that this municipality will soon be classified as a green zone. Padmanabham Mandal, as well as Bheemli Mandal, will soon follow suit.

The new additions, to the containment zones, come under the Kasimkota Mandal and the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) jurisdiction. The GVMC is going to be a crucial zone, in the coming days, as the most recent cases have been identified here. As per the instructions given now, these containment zones will only allow for essential services and no other activities will be permitted. If there is news from the Central Government about further changes, and allowance of specific activities, the district authorities will respond accordingly.

The Collector had also called for a meeting today with medical officers, and GVMC officials, in which he reviewed measures that will be taken for preventing the outbreak of new cases. He said that the surveillance is being done by ASHA workers, ANMs and volunteers but there is a need for in-depth surveys to be conducted. The patient, who has tested positive for coronavirus, must be thoroughly interviewed to understand vital factors such as how they got infected with the virus, with whom they have been in contact with since, etc. The survey, conducted to collect such information, must be robust and all high-risk primary contacts, as well as risky secondary contacts, must be quarantined.

In regards to a containment zone, it must only have a single entry-exit point and the ADCP (Vizag Police), Srinivasa Rao, was advised to set up a tent at this point. The details of anyone passing through the entry-exit point must be noted down. The GVMC officials were ordered to hand over the containment zone area mapping to the police for efficient regulation.