20 corona hotspots sealed in Delhi: Sisodia

The Delhi government on Wednesday announced that it has sealed 20 coronavirus hotspots across the city so far and all the movement will be completely barred in those areas.

Speaking to the media, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said the decision was taken to prevent the spread of coronavirus infection.

"The areas will be completely sealed while the administration will ensure door-to-door delivery of essential items," Sisodia said.

He also said that some positive cases have been reported in the Sadar area here. "So the area has been sealed too."

"Total 20 hotspots have been identified in Delhi and were sealed. Nobody will be allowed to enter or exit these areas," Sisodia said.

According to the Health Ministry, an area with 10 or more cases of an infection is called a cluster and if multiple clusters develop in any region and have the potential to spread the infection further, it is called a hotspot.

However, for coronavirus, it is an emerging term and even an area with one positive case can be called a hotspot, depending upon the possibility of the spread in that area, the Health Department said.

After an area is declared a hotspot or has the capacity to be a hotspot, the authorities have the right to restrict the movement of the people and seal the area making it a containment zone -- locking down a defined geographic area to contain the outbreak of COVID-19.

The containment zones, created to map the local transmission of the disease and prevent the contagion from spreading, are announced by the office of the district magistrate. It completely shuts the movement of the common people with the authorities taking care of the essential supplies.

The area and the houses in it are sanitised properly. So far, several pockets in the city have been declared containment zones, including parts of Nizamuddin, Dilshad Garden, Vasundhara Enclave, Kalyanpuri, Pandav Nagar, Krishan Kunj, Khichripur, Malviya Nagar, Sangam Vihar and Patparganj.

Delhi has reported close to 600 positive cases since the outbreak of the infection, with more than 50 per cent cases from Nizamuddin Markaz -- where over 2,300 people from different parts of the world and country were staying under one roof without following any social distancing.

They were evacuated last week after the lockdown was imposed. IANS