Markets in Salkia, Liluah and Belur in Howrah were shut down on Monday for three days and several pockets in the district have been declared as containment zones as part of the effort to break the chain of coronavirus infection.

The Harganj market at Salkia Chowrasta, the market on Rabindra Sarani in Liluah and one in Belur were shut down early on Monday. Police were deployed to ensure no trader violated the order.

These three markets are among the biggest in Howrah and each of them draws hundreds of people throughout the day, the police said.

The Naskarpara market, the biggest in the Malipanchghora area of Howrah, and a few in Domjur and Sankrail were closed for three days from Sunday.

Guardrails have been erected to demarcate the containment zones and the police made repeated announcements through loudhailers asking residents to strictly adhere to the Covid-19 protocols.

“The idea is to reduce the spread of the coronavirus by preventing congregations at markets and other places,” said a senior officer of the Howrah commissionerate. “We are identifying places where more than four persons have tested positive for Covid over the past few days. They were declared as micro-containment zones.”

On June 17, the district administration in Howrah had identified 18 containment zones following reports of a surge in Covid cases from those areas. The district has been reporting over 100 Covid cases every day over the past few days. Monday’s case count stood at 92, more than that of Hooghly.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had earlier instructed senior officials of all districts recording over 100 positive cases to draw up a plan to curb the spread of the virus.

With the infection continuing to spread, senior officials in Howrah decided to reinforce restrictions beginning this week. Based on data from the health department on the spread of infection, the district administration brought areas in Bally, Salkia and Liluah under containment zone rules.

“The police stations concerned have been asked to draw up rosters for deployment of personnel around the clock and place guardrails to check movement of people,” an officer said.