In the wake of rising cases of Covid-19 in the state, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation is preparing a plan for setting up containment zones in areas where there are cluster of covid cases. The member mayor in council, Swapan Samaddar meanwhile tested positive for Covid-19.

The civic body held a meeting with all the councillors and members of its health department to discuss a strategy to tackle the Covid spurt in the city. Mayor Firhad Hakim told reporters that the KMC will mark out 17 containment zones in different parts of the city. He added that with over 1,000 people reporting Covid positive in the metropolis, the civic body will also make ‘Safe Homes’ set up during the first Coranavirus pandemic wave operational again for people who could not self-isolate themselves as they either lived alone with no care-giver or had too little living space.

Earlier, the deputy mayor Atin Ghosh earlier said that the civic body will first begin an identification drive whereby civic wards with more than one Covid case will be marked in priority list. This would be done with help of ward councillors who would gather the reports on the number of covid patients in their respective wards.

A civic body health official; said that such wards will see containment zones to stop further spread of the disease. “The focus will also be in wards where Omicron cases were detected. This is a highly contagious variant and hence can spread quickly. We need to set up the contain zones here and find out ways to help the families where members have contracted the disease.In this case, councillors, like in 2020, can help reach essential items to these families since coming out of their residence is not an option.”

Meanwhile, the MMIC Swapan Samaddar tested positive for Covid along with two other staff in his office. Samaddar is in charge of the department of slum development and was present in the recent the oath-taking ceremony of the KMC councillors who emerged victorious in the KMC polls.

It is learnt that the KMC meeting comes in the wake of chief minister Mamata Banerjee announcing that the state would raise its guard from 3 January and take all precautions to contain the virus spread. The spurt in cases has been observed throughout the city from South to North.

While many who contracted the disease had recent travel history, others have no record of foreign travel and yet have contracted Covid, said a KMC official. The civic body is carrying out public awareness campaigns in crowded places like markets and urging people to wear masks.