Why ‘Coronavirus’ Cases Rising In ‘Old City Areas’ Of Hyderabad?

Despite forming containment zones in many parts of Malakpet, Chanchalguda, Guddi Bowli, Mallepally, Yakuthpura, Dabeerpura, Chandrayangutta, Tolichowki, Langar Houz and Karwan. The spread of virus is now becoming uncontrollable with the negligence of public.

To ensure that the virus is contained, authorities of various departments like Health, police and the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) have been coordinating with each other.

“The biggest challenge for us is to ensure social distancing because of the population density. We can’t force people so we are trying to counsel locals as much as we can,” says a senior officer from the Hyderabad City Police’s South Zone.

“For example, we are putting markings at ration shops and tell them to wait patiently for their turn even if it is a long line. We have told our officers that they can use this time to educate people on the need to maintain social distancing. We are telling them that if even one person gets the coronavirus, then everyone in the family including young children and old people may get infected,” he adds.

The second thing that the police are looking at is enforcement; to ensure that the lockdown is adhered to.

“If we see people roaming around aimlessly, we are seizing the vehicles and keeping them with us for 24 hours. In containment zones, we are patrolling around the area and ensuring that people stay indoors. It is a very big challenge but we are doing it patiently,” the senior official said.

“The good thing is that the local representatives and leaders have been very cooperative and we have been able to take action on people irrespective of any party affiliation they may have,” he added.

Speaking to #KhabarLive, Malakpet MLA Ahmed Balala from AIMIM said, “Besides our usual awareness programmes in areas under lockdown, we got the contact details of all the people in the containment zones and we have started WhatsApp groups with my team.”

“We are ensuring that people are staying indoors. I am personally on the ground every day carrying out inspections and if there is any requirement for people in containment zones, we are ensuring that it is fulfilled within half an hour, We are gaining their confidence in this way as well,” he added.

The GHMC’s Enforcement, Vigilance and Disaster Management (EVDM) wing is ensuring that the entire city, including pockets of old city, are being frequently disinfected. In containment zones, a disinfection drive is held twice a day.

In some of the zones, the GHMC is also home delivering groceries to the residents.

The Health Department is also involved actively in contact tracing to identify people with the risk of contracting the virus, while also raising awareness about social distancing. In containment zones, the department is also planning to conduct ‘fever surveys’ to identify symptomatic people and shift them to designated hospitals.

“It is a daunting task but we are equipped to handle it. We will ensure that there is no community transmission in Telangana,” an official from the Health Department said.

After the sudden spike during the last three days, the number of COVID-19 cases in Telangana showed a downward trend on Wednesday. Six new cases were reported, taking the total number of cases to 650. #KhabarLive