Taking a cue from of the much-talked about Bhilwara model, the Delhi Government and the Uttar Pradesh Government on Wednesday decided to completely seal Covid-19 hotspots in their respective States.
The decision will mean suspension of all activities, including movement of people, “nobody will be allowed to enter or exit from these areas”.
The Delhi Government has sealed 20 Covid-19 hotspots in the national Capital to combat the spread of the novel virus, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia announced on Wednesday after attending a meeting called by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. “Nobody will be allowed to enter or exit from these areas. While the administration will ensure door-to-door delivery of essential items,” he said.
The UP Government said all the 102 designated “hotspots” in 15 districts where numbers of COVID-19 cases are high will be sealed till April 15.
People came out on the streets when reports started circulating in some news channels that the whole of 15 districts in UP would be sealed. Fearing that the shops will be closed, people swamped the grocery shops and vegetable markets across the State throwing the caution of social distancing to the wind. In many places police had to use force and asked people to go back.
They even forcibly closed the shops.
UP Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi said here on Wednesday that the hotspots of the districts which have reported six or more novel corona positive cases would be sealed and no one including mediapersons would be allowed there. “All banks and other establishments would be closed and residents of the locality will be provided foodgrains, milk and vegetables at their door steps,” Awasthi said.
Awasthi clarified that the districts will not be sealed. It is only the hotspot areas - where number of corona positive cases is high - would be sealed. The said lockdown in other parts of cities will remain enforced as usual.
There are 102 hotspots in Uttar Pradesh. The highest hotspot areas are in Agra where 22 localities would be sealed followed by 13 in Ghaziabad, 12 each Gautam Buddha Nagar and Lucknow, 10 in Kanpur, four in Varanasi, three in Shamli, 7 in Meerut, 3 each in Bulandshahr, Basti and Ferozabad, four each in Saharanpur and Maharajganj and one each in Sitapur and Bareilly.
The Director General of Police RC Awasthi said that curfew-like situation will prevail in these hotspot localities and no one will be allowed to come out of the house. “This is done to ensure that no infected person should infect others,” he said.
