The Howrah district administration on Thursday imposed a “complete lockdown” in several parts of Howrah city amid reports of a spurt in the number of Covid-19 cases.
As many as 36 areas under the Howrah Municipal Corporation have been brought within the purview of the lockdown based on a study of the incidence of Covid cases, officials said.
“The district administration has drawn up a fresh list of containment zones after considering all aspects,” said Howrah police commissioner Kunal Agarwal. “Accordingly, enforcement of complete lockdown has started since Thursday in all these zones.”
Apart from roads, lanes and bylanes, apartments, too, have been brought under the lockdown with the instruction that no one would be allowed to step out unless it is an emergency.
Shops and markets in the earmarked zones have been shut down and police have blocked entry and exit using guardrails. A banner from the local police station has been put up on these guardrails saying entry and exit of residents have been banned and anyone found flouting the rule will be prosecuted.
“This (the complete lockdown) was needed to bring down the number of people getting exposed to the virus in pockets where the number of positive cases is very high,” said Bhabani Das, chief medical officer of health, Howrah. “Going by the distribution of positive patients, it appears the virus is present in clusters in some areas.”
Microbiologists and virologists at the School of Tropical Medicine in Calcutta, which is the designated government testing centre for Covid-19 for all samples from Howrah, said the percentage of samples from the district testing positive was higher than the state average of seven to eight per cent.
The barricades have banners that say residents will not be allowed to enter or exit and violators will be prosecuted
“It’s around 10 per cent for Howrah, going by the number of positive cases that we have identified,” said a senior doctor at the School of Tropical Medicine. “It could be because of the density of population.”
Since Thursday morning, senior officers of the Howrah police commissionerate had been going around parts of Belilious Road and Suresh Ganguly Street in Golabari, Rajan Seikh Lane in Belur and Patuapara in Liluah, asking shopkeepers to down shutters and requesting people to return home before sealing the pockets with guardrails.
Civic volunteers have been posted at the entry and exit of each of these areas and anyone seen stepping out of their homes was asked to step back immediately.
“Residents have been told that they can contact the nearest police station if they need any help. We have ‘lockdown warriors’ who would reach out to those in need,” said a senior officer of the commissionerate. “But unless it’s an emergency, you can’t leave these pockets.”
Since early May, when Howrah had seemed more prone to lockdown violations and started reporting a large number of cases, health officials have been randomly screening people for Covid-19.
Health workers from the Howrah Municipal Corporation started visiting parts of Sanatan Mistry Lane in Golabari and Jogomaya Bustee in Bantra to collect samples at random even as police started enforcing complete lockdown, shutting down markets across parts of Malipanchghara, Shibpur, Howrah and Golabari.
“We want to return to that phase of zero positive cases in these containment areas in Howrah city, Belur, Liluah, Golabari and Malipanch-ghara and other places,” said a senior police officer of the Howrah police commissionerate.
