To maintain uninterrupted supply of essential commodities to the people within containment zones, the Delhi Government has set up a team of nodal officers for food, ration, medical supplies etc. and has distributed their numbers to all the residents.
For this, a local point within the each containment area has been identified where every morning, supplies will be provided to residents.
After the success of operation shield in Dilshad Garden and few other areas, the Government has implemented this idea in other containment zones too.
The Delhi Government officials said Gali number -4, Kishan Kunj Extension, East Delhi, is one such area where a person was found Covid-19 positive after his death. “Later 6 of his family members were also found positive. The Delhi Government immediately sealed the whole area, declared it as a containment zone and initiated operation shield.”
“The Delhi Government officials who are responsible to look after this area have formed a WhatsApp group of all the residents where they can put out their requests and the Government is ensuring a speedy delivery of the same,” said a official.
Elaborating further, the official said Government officials have also provided the contact numbers of the officials, relief centres, hunger relief centre and of other essential people or places. If the residents of this area are unable to reach out to these contact points then they visit the local officer-in-charge of the area and the concerned team immediately take care of the demands.
"The Delhi Government is ensuring all the essential services to the people who are staying inside this containment zone. In this area, none of the residents is allowed to go outside but they can come till a point where the officials stay available 24×7. We have formed a WhatsApp group and all the residents of this area are being added in that group. We have provided all the important numbers of officials and the essential service providers. The residents put their demands in that WhatsApp group and we immediately ensure the services. In case if they are unable to reach out to us over the WhatsApp then they come and meet the designated officials at the border of this area. We take note of the demands and immediately arrange the services from the local suppliers. After arranging the essential commodities forced we sanitise and disinfect the person concerned and then handover the essential goods," said Mr Mohit Dhama, Nodal officer for the Gali number -4, Kishan Kunj Extension.
Talking about this containment area, Yogesh Pratap Singh, Additional District Magistrate, East Delhi said, "Sanjeev Gupta a person who was suffering from kidney problem returned after dialysis and died. After his death, the Delhi Government conducted Covid-19 test and it was found positive. Thereafter 6 of his family members were also found positive and were admitted for treatment.
The Delhi Government immediately declared this area as a containment zone and sealed this whole area. The Delhi Government has also conducted tests of 11 of the neighbours who came in touch with this family as a precautionary measure. Due to the immediate action, there are no new cases from this area. The reports of the 11 people are awaiting."
It may be noted that government on Wednesday extended the list of containment zones to include two more areas, taking the total number of areas in the list to 57.
No residents, excluding essential workers, are allowed to enter or exit these areas. Meanwhile, health care workers will conduct door-to-door screening of the area's residents for Covid-19.
Delhi Government has launched ‘Operation Shield’ in all the hotspot areas to combat and control the spread of COVID-19 virus. Delhi Chief Minister Mr Arvind Kejriwal made the announcement on April 9, 2020. Operation Shield is an operation that has been launched to trace and identify positive coronavirus cases and to eliminate the risk of community transmission. The operation mainly involves sealing of hotspot areas, identifying and quarantining suspected cases or contact cases, ensuring doorstep delivery of essential services and door-to-door checking of people to check for asymptomatic cases or those with mild symptoms.
''Operation SHIELD'' has completely stopped the transmission of coronavirus in Dilshad Garden with no new cases reported in the last 16 days. A total of 123 medical teams screened more than 15,000 people living in 4,032 houses and hospitalised the coronavirus suspects in this area. The Delhi Government had earlier on April 7, 2020 launched 5Ts to tackle Covid-19 spread in the National Capital, which includes- Testing, Tracing, Treatment, Teamwork and Tracking and Monitoring.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also assured that the Capital will boost its testing capacity and undertake aggressive testing to identify, trace, quarantine and treat positive Covid-19 cases.