Kolkata: Police, KMC plan stricter lockdown after case spurt – Times of India

Kolkata: The city on Tuesday reported its highest single-day spike in cases with 291 fresh infections, taking its Covid count in Kolkata to 7,680 and the active case tally to 2,552. Kolkata has also recorded a 200-plus single-day case spike since June 30, with July 3 being the only exception. Police and KMC said the case spurt has necessitated stricter lockdown measures.
The revised containment zones are likely to increase from 18 earlier to 33 in Kolkata. There were four containment zones in the eastern suburban division — two in Ultadanga and two in Phoolbagan-Kankurgachhi. A revision on Tuesday shot the number of containment zones here to 10. “We have added two zones in Beliaghata and Phoolbagan each and one each in Narkeldanga and Tangra. Similarly, Bhowanipore, which already has over 100 cases, is likely to see a further rise, mostly in the Sarat Bose Road and Chakraberia areas that houses multiple multi-storey buildings. In Gariahat and adjoining Ballygunge, three zones have been reported at Dover Lane, Dover Terrace and Panditiya Lane.
At present, the city also has 1,872 isolation units. Incidentally, all the containment zones are presently apartments.
At Urbana, 10 people are currently infected with the disease while four have been cured of the infection. “A lift technician was infected recently and he is now admitted to a hospital. The infected residents are mostly under treatment at home. We had tried every means to prevent entry of outsider but several residents had raised objections, which led us to relax the norms. But if there are fresh guidelines from the government to be followed, we will have to abide by them,” said Debjani Mookherjee, a resident and senior vice-president of Urbana residential complex.
“Nine people have been affected in our complex so far. We had the last case around 10 days ago. We don’t know if our complex will also come under containment zone now but we will follow whatever government advisory will be there,” said Ashok Baid, a senior association member of Silver Spring Complex on EM Bypass.
At Ganapati Villa — a standalone building on Amherst Street, where a family had kept the body of a 71-year-old in a freezer for more than a day to preserve it while waiting for a death certificate — the residents said they were glad with the order. “Our building was not shut even for an hour after the incident. People enter and leave the building at ease and that is scary. We will happily oblige to state orders as we believe it will be beneficial for all the 12 families,” said Raj Gupta, a first-floor resident.
KMC officials have made it clear that they would strictly enforce the lockdown. “We will have to engage civic volunteers for delivery of medicines and other essentials to senior citizens in the containment zones. This apart, our doctors will monitor the needs of elderly patients,” said a KMC health department official.