Govt. swings into action as nine cases strike Indore in two days

Odd-even road-rationing scheme rolled out in the city

As nine COVID-19 positive cases strike Indore in two days, the most populous city in Madhya Pradesh, government officials grappling with spiralling cases have declared the area within the 3-km radius of houses of the cases as ‘containment areas’, and are rolling out the odd-even road rationing scheme in the district from Saturday.

While four cases were reported on Wednesday, five were reported on Thursday, necessitating the action. The State’s only COVID-19- related death — a 65-year-old woman from Ujjain — on Wednesday also occurred in Indore.

Within the containment areas around the nine ‘epicentres’, all residents will have to go into home quarantine and traffic will be prohibited. Besides, the area within the 5-km radius of the ‘containment’ area has been declared ‘buffer’ zone, according to an order issued by District Collector Lokesh Kumar Jatav.

For each ‘containment’ area, a rapid response team, comprising doctors and paramedics, among others, will be deployed, who will monitor suspected cases. At every exit point, health officials will screen persons. Moreover, they will follow-up with every person in home quarantine every day. The Municipal Corporation will sanitise the area.

As per another order, Mr. Jatav has rolled out the road-rationing scheme starting with allowing vehicles having only odd-numbered plates from March 28. Every third day traffic will be prohibited. In addition, every person stepping out to buy provisions should have face covered.

On Thursday, five residents of the district tested positive for the viral disease, taking the count of active cases in Madhya Pradesh to 19.

“Five persons had tested positive in the first lot on Wednesday, and another five later,” Mr. Jatav said.

‘No travel history’

The first four cases from Indore had no travel history, he confirmed. “We’re still finding out if the new cases had travelled abroad.”

Two men aged 35, a man aged 38 and a woman aged 55 had tested positive, said an official of the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College, Indore, where 10 of the 70 samples tested turned out to be positive. The age of the one of the women couldn't be ascertained.