The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporate (BMC) has decided to seal the city’s largest slum area, Subhash Nagar, after six cases of coronavirus infections were reported from the area. All the six persons, who tested positive, are locals from the area without any travel history. While only one active case emerged on Friday, five more were added to the growing list on Saturday.
Subhash Nagar being designated a containment zone virtually barricades the community from any outside travel and interaction. Essential items, however, will be supplied to the affected areas by vendors authorised by the BMC in advance. “We brought Subash Nagar under containment because it has slum pockets. Active surveillance of the locality will be carried out,” said BMC commissioner Prem Chandra Chaudhury. The BMC is also carrying out sanitation drives and contact tracing efforts are underway.
This is the first time that an area in the capital city is being designated as a containment zone in nearly two months. Prior to this, no area had been earmarked as a containment zone since April 22, when the BMC commissioner had removed containment zone tags from Suryanagar, Satyanagar, Bomikhal and Sundarpada.