India News | Strict Surveillance of Home Isolation, Aggressive Contact Tracing Part of Delhi's Revised Strategy

New Delhi, Oct 6 (PTI) Strict surveillance of home isolation cases, aggressive contact tracing, creation of containment zones at micro level and efforts for human behaviourial changes through extensive campaign will be part of Delhi's revised COVID-19 management strategy discussed by the DDMA on Tuesday, sources said.

Cinema halls, theatres and swimming pools will remain closed as no decision could be taken in a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority, chaired by Lt Governor Anil Baijal. Authorities are also yet to take a decision on Ramlila.

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In the meeting, it was also decided that considering the gravity of the pandemic, focused attention should be on containing transmission, strengthening medical infrastructure, improving recovery of patients and reducing COVID-19 fatalities.

Last month, Baijal had asked a six-member expert panel to come up with suggestions to deal with the current COVID-19 situation and ramp up health facilities in the national capital.

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"In the DDMA meeting, the panel submitted several suggestions which include strict surveillance of home isolation cases, creation of containment zones at micro level and aggressive contact tracing.

"The panel also felt that there is need for human behaviourial changes which can be made through extensive campaign," a source said.

The source said that as the national capital has been witnessing a decline in the number of COVID-19 cases, the current COVID-19 management strategy cannot be entirely changed.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejrjiwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia, Revenue Minister Kailash Gahlot, NITI Aayog Member V K Paul, AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria and others attended the DDMA meeting.

On Tuesday, 2,676 fresh cases were recorded while the city recorded 39 COVID-19 fatalities.

Earlier in the day, Kejriwal said the city is past the peak of the second wave of coronavirus and the situation has been controlled to a large extent.

He said the city government increased the testing exponentially to detect the infection.

"Delhi hit the peak of the second wave of COVID-19 on September 17 when 4,500 cases were reported across the city. The situation has been controlled to a large extent," the chief minister said. "I hope the second wave will slowly pass," he told reporters here.

Testing in Delhi hit the 60,000 a day-mark in September compared to around 20,000 tests per day in August.

Delhi is perhaps the first state in the country to have claimed that it is past the peak of the second wave of coronavirus.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)