Making Hyderabad Coronavirus-free top on Telangana government agenda

Hyderabad: The Telangana government has taken up the giant task of reducing the number of Containment Zones, which have been created to check the spread of deadly Coronavirus and the Red Zones announced by the Centre recently, by at least 50 per cent before the end of the lockdown period. The total number of Containment Zones in the state is 260 out of which 146 are in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits. Another 114 zones have been created in 43 municipalities, which are prone to coronavirus pandemic. The constant efforts put up by the government had already shown some desirable results in the Greater Hyderabad as the Containment Zones in 16 places mostly in Cyberabad and parts of Kukatpally, ECIL and Uppal areas were declared safe zones, where the number of positive cases reported in the last two weeks were almost nil. Every department official was on the job to tackle the virus menace and make Hyderabad a green zone at the earliest.

The major challenge before the government is to contain the spread of virus from the infected families to the neighborhood, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar said, adding that decline in the number of cases on a daily basis is a clear indication that the state will be freed from the clutches of the virus very soon.

Prohibition of the movement of outsiders into the zones and delivery of essential commodities at the dwellers' doorsteps helped check the rapid spread of the virus, he added.

The Municipal authorities said that the people were restricted to their homes in the Containment Zones in all Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) but the officials are clueless on the new positive cases since the government is not taking up mass testing for all locals in the zones. The government will not declare the zones as virus-free unless all people are tested negative. The government is making arrangements to conduct virus tests to all people in every zone in the municipalities and the exercise will be completed at the earliest .

However, what is causing worry is the gross violation of all health protocols, including the use of masks by the people in the Old City areas. People continue to violate the law and travel with family members, including children, on two wheelers and none of them wear masks. Maintaining social distance is something which appears to be an alien subject to them.

Meanwhile, Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development minister KT Rama Rao and Health Minister Eatala Rajender held video conference with Special Collectors and Municipal Commissioners. The ministers instructed the officials to deploy paramedical staff to identify people suffering from fever in every house in the Containment Zones. Arrangements for barricading, sanitisation, spraying and supply of goods to every household were also discussed in the conference.

Officials said that efforts were on to reduce the intensity of spread of the virus in Red Zone districts- Nizamabad, Warangal Urban, Rangareddy, Jogulamba-Gadwal, Medchal-Malkajgiri, Karimnagar and Nirmal, which have been declared by the Union government. Once the districts are declared as Green Zones, industry , construction and other labour-intensive works will be resumed as per the new set of norms and guidelines announced by the Centre.