Gorakhpur And Agra Scramble To Contain Coronavirus Spread, 25 Areas In Agra Declared ‘Red Zones’ 

The risk of a spurt in Covid-19 positive and suspected cases has risen in Gorakhpur. The number of people who have been identified as coming into contact with the Tablighi Jamaat workers who have returned from the congregation in Delhi's Nizamuddin area, has risen to 200 in Gorakhpur.

Policemen in Gorakhpur's Covid-19 team are working to search for these contacts with the help of their call and location details. Besides Gorakhpur, the threat of Covid-19 spread has increased in Agra. The administration in Gorakhpur and Agra is tightening measures to get a hold on the situation.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said in his address earlier today that 168 out of the total 308 Covid-19 positive cases in the state were workers of the Tablighi Jamaat.

He added that efforts are being made to limit the spread with the help of the Centre in the 10 testing labs in the state.

Adityanath added that there wasn't a single testing lab in Uttar Pradesh when the first Covid-19 case struck.

A report in Jagran says that many people from districts surrounding Gorakhpur had gone to participate in the Nizamuddin congregation. Six people from district Maharajganj have been found Covid-19 positive. The list of people who have come in contact with the Jamaatis has been sent to the state administration.

According to the same report, the six people from Maharajganj found Covid 19 positive were among the 21 Jamaatis who had returned to Gorakhpur on 21 March on Kamakhya Express train. From Gorakhpur, they departed for Maharajganj on Roadways buses and in private vehicles.

Scrambling to get the situation under control, the administration is now seeking help from religious leaders to make people follow the lockdown protocol. The district authorities are following the target of meeting five religious leaders per day to maintain their reach to these leaders and through them, to the masses, especially in thickly populated areas.

In Gorakhpur, the railway authorities have asked the cleaning staff and the security guards present on the Kamakhya Express train on that particular day, to home quarantine themselves.

Daily updates on the home quarantined staff are taken by the railway authorities. Other passengers travelling on the Kamakhya Express have been identified and alerted.

Meanwhile, in the light of a sharp increase in Covid 19 positive cases in Agra, the district administration took a set of stringent measures for mitigating, controlling and fighting the spread of the virus. Twenty-five areas in Agra have been declared ‘no entry zones’. Twenty-two zones have been declared as ‘red zones’.

According to a Jagran report, a massive containment plan has been launched in the 22 red zones in Agra. It means that the district administration can take strict steps towards the containment and control of the situation. In the first round of phased out sealing, four zones have been sealed; 21 other zones will witness sealing next. Teams of magistrates, doctors and policemen have been formed to keep a watch on the zones.

Contact surveillance teams will identify and keep a watch on people showing symptoms of coronavirus. Blood samples of such people will be taken. People who have been in contact with the patients and those who have come in contact with positive cases through different means will be identified.

According to the report, nine areas have been identified for the presence of Jamaatis. These areas fall in the red zones and are directly under the watch of the police.

The state's first Covid-19 related death was reported in Gorakhpur on 1 April. The 25- year-old man from Basti was suffering from kidney and liver ailments, according to reports. The man hid his travel details.