Process of declaring containment zones changed in city to normalise situation

Kolkata, Jun 1 () Though there is a dip in coronavirus cases in north Kolkata and status quo in its central part, the city is witnessing steep rise of COVID-19 patients in the south and its adjoining suburbs, a senior official said on Monday.

As steps are being taken to gradually normalise the situation, the citys civic body and police have started identifying a building with a COVID-19 patient and declaring it and a portion of the road on which it is situated as a "containment zone", deviating from the earlier practice of marking an entire area as such, he said.

"This will help us facilitate the process of slowly relaxing the lockdown," the IAS officer said, stressing on the rise in the number of COVID-19 cases in the southern part of the city's Alipore, Kidderpore, Sarat Bose Road, Lake Gardens, Bijaygarh, Jadavpur and Garden Reach areas.

"The lockdown in and around these containment zones needs to be effectively practised to arrest the spread of the disease and normalise things for people and socio-economic revival," he said.

Asked whether the same process is being initiated in districts, the official said, "A direction has been given to the civic bodies and they are doing what is required to be done."

The West Bengal government on Saturday extended the ongoing lockdown till June 15 only in containment zones and allowed relaxation in other areas. SCH NN NN