Delhi COVID-19 containment zones rise to 421 after re-mapping

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The number of COVID-19 containment zones in Delhi has risen to 421 after a re-mapping of such areas -- an increase of 141 zones -- in the last two days, with the Southwest district topping the chart. According to an official, around 2.45 lakh people were screened in the national capital till Saturday night in a mammoth exercise to check the spread of COVID-19.

Officials said the count of containment zones is expected to jump further as the authorities in some districts are yet to complete the task of redrawing such areas, following the Centre's directions.

Before the re-mapping exercise, the number of containment zones was 280 in the national capital on June 25, an official said. The exercise was launched on June 26.

Another official said Southwest Delhi has reported a rise of 37 containment zones since the re-mapping exercise was launched, taking the number of such areas in the district to 80.

According to a list of the COVID-19 containment zones issued by the government, there are 421 such areas in the national capital.

North Delhi district has 59 containment zones, followed by South Delhi (56), Central Delhi (40), Shahdara (38), East Delhi (33) Southeast Delhi(32), Northwest Delhi (28), West Delhi (25), New Delhi (21) and Northeast Delhi (nine).

"Till Saturday night, we have screened around two lakh people for COVID-19 in a house-to-house survey being conducted across the city. Also, 45,000 people have been screened in the containment zones," an official told PTI.

The process of screening every household in the national capital has to be completed by July 6.

According to the 2011 Census, there were over 34.35 lakh households in Delhi, including 33.56 lakh in urban areas and 79,574 in rural areas.

According to the COVID-19 response plan issued by the Delhi government, the re-mapping of the containment zones is to be completed by June 30.

Under the new rules, the authorities have to delineate the containment zones on a micro level, instead of big ones.

At least 1,100 teams comprising two members each have been formed to screen the national capital's population for COVID-19. 

The teams are armed with a mobile application -- SS Corona -- which will send real-time details to a dedicated web portal set up by the government.

Apart from basic details like name, age, address and contact number, the teams are feeding the mobile application with information such as every individual's travel history, whether or not they use the Centre's Aarogya Setu app and if they have symptoms of influenza.

The same mobile application was being used in carrying out the screening in the COVID-19 containment zones, officials had said earlier.