PANJIM: Two wards of Mangor Hill that have become the first hotspot for COVID-19 in the State, with 228 cases reported positive so far, have been declared as a containment zone by the government.
However, investigations revealed that the State has flouted the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) of the containment zone as prescribed by the Union Ministry of Family and Health Welfare (MoFHW).
If one goes through the “Micro Plan for Containing Local Transmission of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)” the State appears to have bent the rules.
The rules state that the containment zone should be demarcated three kilometres from every first case, besides there has to be five kilometre buffer zone. This is not being followed by the State.
If one goes by MoHFW guidelines along with Mangor Hill entire Vasco, Dabolim and parts of Zuarinagar will have to be shut.
Herald understands that in Mangor Hill the State has demarcated an area of 500 metres as containment zone.
The rules state, “The containment zone will be decided by the Rapid Response Teams (RRT) based on the extent of cases/contacts listed and mapped by them. However, if contact listing/mapping is taking time (>12-24 hours), then on arbitrary basis demarcate an area of 3 kms radius around the epicenter (the residence of the positive case).”
Further, it says, “This area of 3 km radius will be the containment zone. If required, based on the mapping of contacts and cases, the containment zone will be refined. A buffer zone of an additional 5 kms radius (7 kms in rural areas)/administrative boundary of including neighboring districts/per-urban zone shall also be identified, as detailed in the cluster containment plan.”
Also, the guidelines say, the containment zone will be divided into sectors with 50 houses each (30 houses in difficult areas) – even this rule is not being adhered to at Mangor Hill.
“Every confirmed case has to be considered as an epicenter and micro-plan activities will be done as described above,” the SOP says.
The MoHFW says that the municipal/village panchayat staff/civil society volunteers should create awareness in the community, encouraging community to follow frequent hand wash, respiratory etiquettes, self monitoring of health and reporting to the health workers about persons in their vicinity having cough, fever, breathing difficulty.
When Herald spoke to Health Secretary Nila Mohanan on whether the MOHFW guidelines are being followed on containment zones, she replied with a firm yes. “We are following the MoHFW totally on containment zones and there is no diversion from the SOP. In fact both the Collectors have been following it very strictly,” she said.
Local MLA Carlos Almeida, as well as the Minister Mauvin Godinho along with opposition leaders Digamabar Kamat and Rohan Khaunte have been demanding for a complete lockdown of Vasco. However, Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant has remained firm on no lockdown.
Mangor Hill is the worst affected area for Goa as far as COVID-19 is concerned as it has 228 cases out of 330 cases reported in the State.
Not just the residents, but almost 13 health workers who had been working in the locality have been affected by the virus.
