Kolkata gets a new containment zone after a month

KOLKATA: A locality in Thakurpukur, with more than 60 active Covid-19 cases, has been notified as a containment zone. The last time a containment zone was notified by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and Kolkata Police was a month ago.

Located off James Long Sarani, Satyen Park — the new containment zone — is one of the most well-connected localities in Behala and has a major market bang opposite and two hospitals within a kilometre. The spurt in cases, according to ward coordinator Indrajit Bhattacharjee, has happened after Durga Puja.

“In each house that reported a Covid patient, at least one more family member got infected. We realized that home isolation policy wasn’t working and the area needed to be declared a containment zone,” said a police officer from the south-west division.

While guard rails are currently not being used to seal off containment zones, the size of Satyen Park, the number of cases and threat of further spread due to the presence of the market in such close proximity may require its residents to be ‘contained’. A sizeable number of Satyen Park residents are office-goers.

School teacher Sanjay Ghosh felt it was ironic that Satyen Park residents who had blocked outsiders from entering the locality during the lockdown and set up barriers to prevent the virus from creeping into the locality had now become a containment zone.

Homemaker Sucheta Dasgupta feels what has happened was inevitable given the laxity that had set in over the past couple of months. “In the initial days, everyone was careful. As time passed, people forgot about the virus. They even started visiting the market without masks,” said complained.

The ward coordinator has now asked police to set up roadblocks to restrict entry and exit. “We may have to shut the Rail Line Market. It is still operational but a decision on shutdown will be taken soon,” the coordinator said.