Coronavirus Outbreak: Ten Hotspots Identified By The Government

The number of coronavirus cases in India has gone beyond 1250. With the entire country under lockdown, fear of community spread heightened when numerous who attended a religious event in Delhi tested positive for the virus. Since the number of cases is gradually rising in the country, the government has designated 10 places as the hotspots for virus spread. The "hotspots" are Dilshad Garden and Nizamuddin in Delhi, Noida and Meerut in UP, Kasaragod, and Pathanamthitta in Kerala, Mumbai and Pune in Maharashtra, Bhilwara in Rajasthan and Ahmedabad in Gujarat.

Key Takeaways:

• A hotspot is a place where several clusters of coronavirus cases are detected. One cluster is formed when 10 people are tested positive for a virus in the same place. 
• The Government has identified 10 places as hotspots for the coronavirus. These are, Dilshad Garden and Nizamuddin in Delhi, Noida and Meerut in UP, Kasaragod, and Pathanamthitta in Kerala, Mumbai and Pune in Maharashtra, Bhilwara in Rajasthan and Ahmedabad in Gujarat.
• The number of coronavirus cases went beyond 1250 in India as of 31 March morning. Most severely affected is the state of Maharashtra, followed by Kerala.

Delhi Connection Of Virus Spread

The horror of community spread of coronavirus unfolded when six people from Telangana died. The common thing with these six people was that all of them attended a religious event organized in Delhi's Nizamuddin area. According to the officials, of all the people who attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation, a major portion belongs to Tamil Nadu and Assam. With 24 people testing positive and more than 200 showing symptoms of COVID-19, the Nizamuddin area has appeared to be one of the biggest hotspots of coronavirus in India.

An estimated 1,500-1,700 people attended the congregation. Of these, it is estimated that 510 people came from Tamil Nadu, 281 from Assam, 156 from Uttar Pradesh, 109 from Maharashtra, 107 from Madhya Pradesh, 86 from Bihar, 73 from West Bengal, 55 from Telangana, 46 from Jharkhand, 45 from Karnataka, 34 from Uttarakhand, 22 from Haryana, 21 from Andaman and Nicobar Islands, 19 from Rajasthan, 15 each from Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Odisha, nine from Punjab and five from Meghalaya. There were also 281 foreigners.

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Other Hotspots In The Country

Maharashtra has been the worst hit by the coronavirus crisis. As expected, two of its cities Mumbai and Pune forms a part of the hotspot list. Till now, Maharashtra has encountered 10 deaths because of coronavirus, eight in Mumbai and one each in Pune and Sangli. When six doctors and medical staff of a private hospital tested positive on March 19 in Bhilwara, Rajasthan, it led to more than 20 lakh people tested for the virus. Twenty-six positive cases have been found in the region and hence, Bhilwara is one of the hotspots.

Another hotspot in the list is Meerut, which has been shocked by the Nizamuddin incident, and hence, the risk of the virus rose in the region. The region has 13 confirmed cases, while 35 people have been put under quarantine. Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddha Nagar has encountered 38 COVID-19 cases and at least 22 of them can be directly or indirectly linked to a private company, Cease Fire, in Sector-135 of Noida. Other regions designated as the hotspots are Kasaragod, and Pathanamthitta in Kerala and Ahmedabad in Gujarat.

A hotspot is a place where several clusters of coronavirus cases are detected. One cluster is formed when 10 people are tested positive for a virus in the same place.

“We will follow rigorous surveillance and containment measures in these places. Only a ‘minuscule percentage’ of asymptomatic people have tested positive in the country. The health ministry’s guidelines say that if the epidemiological assessment process is to take time (>12-24 hrs), then a containment zone of 3 km and a buffer zone of 7 km will be decided, “which may be subsequently revised, if required, based on the epidemiologic investigation. Except for rural settings," an officer in the Health Ministry told The Indian Express. 

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