Common NCR strategy? Six districts around Delhi have over 11,000 Covid cases, 250 deaths

New Delhi: The Centre has asked for a common NCR strategy as six districts around Delhi have seen a sharp rise in the number of cases and deaths and account for over 11,000 cases and 250 deaths due to Covid-19, a senior central government functionary has told ET.

These six districts also contribute in a big way to the toll in their respective states, an analysis by the Centre has shown. Gurugram, Faridabad and Sonepat account for nearly 70% of cases and 80% of deaths in Haryana while Gautam Budh Nagar (Noida), Ghaziabad and Meerut account for 25% of the cases and deaths in Uttar Pradesh. While UP has kept its border closed with Delhi with strict checks, Haryana had opened its borders with Delhi earlier this month. Haryana is now seeing cases double in 11 days.

Gurguram now has nearly 4,400 cases with 59 deaths while Faridabad has 2,100 cases with 52 deaths. Sonepat which is another Haryana’s border district with Delhi has over 800 cases. Haryana’s total death toll has risen to 150 as of today from just 20 on May 31 primarily due to these districts. Out of the 10,338 total cases in Haryana, 7,320 cases are from these three districts. In UP, Noida has nearly 1400 cases; Ghaziabad has over 800 cases with 41 deaths while Meerut has 786 cases with a death toll of 75.

The Home Ministry last week sought a common strategy to tackle Covid-19 spread in the NCR and the UP and Haryana governments had been asked to provide details of the availability of total beds, oxygen cylinders, ICU facilities and ambulances.

“HM Amit Shah said that keeping in view the close knit urban structure of the NCR region, it is necessary for all concerned authorities in Delhi and the NCR region to come together to tackle the virus,” the Home Ministry has said in a statement after a review meeting.

Delhi is reporting a total number of nearly 57,000 cases with over 2,100 deaths so far.