India / Centre must think of opening containment zones in 15 days: Delhi Min

New Delhi: With the number of containment zones crossing 700 in the city, the Delhi government has pitched for a change in the Centre’s containment zone strategy, arguing that the one-size-fits-all approach should be replaced by policies that take local factors into account.

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain Sunday told reporters that the Centre should also explore the possibility of not keeping an area sealed for over 15 days. There are containment zones in Delhi which have not been unsealed over the last three months. As per the Centre’s guidelines, a containment zone can be unlocked 28 days from the date of the last discharge.

“I feel the Centre needs to review its containment zone policy. The sero survey showed that 24% people may have already contracted the virus in Delhi; it’s already been a month since that survey. In the next survey, the share will probably go up to 35-40%. So the policy perhaps needs a review.

“It is difficult to implement a uniform policy across the country. There has to be separate sets of policies for various regions. Think about it, 25% of the population got infected and also recovered. It is a good thing in a way. So I think policies should be framed keeping different considerations in mind… We believe containment zones should not be contained for eternity, instead they should be sealed for maximum 15 days,” Jain said.

There are 714 containment zones, housing a population of over 4 lakh, in Delhi now. The maximum number of sealed zones are in the Southeast district (124), followed closely by Southwest (120), West (105) and North (83).