Bengal to club containment, buffer zones for stricter lockdown from July 9

The West Bengal government on Tuesday expanded the definition of containment zone and clubbed it with the buffer zones to come up with a broad-based containment zone and said a strict lockdown will be implemented in those areas from July 9 to stem the spread of coronavirus. The order, however, did not mention how long the fresh spell of the shutdown will last.

A containment zone has a stricter form of the lockdown and people are not allowed to leave or enter such areas while a buffer zone is a certain area marked outside the containment zone.A Centre-mandated nationwide lockdown in containment zones is in place till July 31.

“Current concept of containment zones may be combined with the current concept of buffer zone and together they may constitute a revised and broad-based containment zone approach,” read a government notification.

The state government said the following activities will be barred in these broader containment zones: all offices (government and private), all non-essential services, all congregations, all transportation, all marketing/industrial/trading activities.

The movement of residents, the government added, will be strictly regulated.

“Local authorities will try to arrange home delivery to the residents staying inside the broad-based containment zones,” it said further.

In another decision last week, flights from six coronavirus hotspots - Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Chennai and Ahmedabad - will not be allowed to land in Kolkata between July 6-19 as the state government stepped up efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

Kolkata has of late been witnessing a daily average of 200 people being infected by coronavirus. The city had 2,415 active coronavirus cases on Monday.