INDIA: After extending the nationwide lockdown, the union government on Wednesday (April 15) divided various districts into three zones to contain the Coronavirus at this stage.The three zones are divided as red, orange and green — depending on the number of COVID-19 cases in those areas.

Containment operation would be deemed over when there is no case reported in 28 days from an area after the last case tests negative. Hotspots (designated red zones) will be assumed to be undertaking effective containment activities if no case is reported in the next 14 days (designated orange zones) and will be deemed successful in containment if no case is reported for 28 days (designated green zones),” said Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan said.

The ministry has released a list of 170 hotspot districts, which includes all six metros and various other large cities. This falls under Red zone,where no ease of lockdown restriction will be allowed.

The government also marked 207 other districts as potential hotspots or orange zones. It asked states to ensure a containment on outbreak in these regions. The only way that a district or region can be brought out of the red zone is when there is no new case of Coronavirus for at least 28 continuous days. Once this is achieved the district would be called a green zone, that is COVID-19 free area.

However, green zones are the districts where no COVID-19 cases are reported, and a limited functionality may be allowed after April 20, as per the government orders.

Sudan also wrote to Chief Secretaries of States and Union Territories, asking them to divide their states and UTs into two sections —hotspots and non-hotspot areas. States also need to identify hotspots based on the rate of infection.

The exercise of identification of hotspots, she says, has to be done on a weekly basis, every Monday. She has advised strict containment plans for such clusters.

170 districts flagged under Red Zones or hotspots — which include districts in prominent cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Srinagar, Nagpur, Pune, Indore, Korba, among others.Some of the White Zone districts include Gwalior, Raipur, Bilaspur, Kanchipuram, Puducherry, Bareilly, Varanasi, Haridwar and Kalimpong.

In context of Chhattisgarh, the central government has divided the whole state into three zones. And according to the category of the zone only, conditional relaxation will be given to the people. Zone with a maximum number of corona positive cases has kept under the red zone. Orange zone consists of those districts which have not received any patient from the last 14 days. At last green zone includes those district which has not received any positive cases in the last 28 days.

Firstly we will talk about the red zone with large outbreak in Chhattisgarh which includes only Korba district. In the state, currently, the cases are looming from Katghora town of Korba district. Significantly, the corona has spread throughout the area from the youth who returned from Delhi Markaz after attending the Tablighi Jamaat event. So far, maximum of 28 patients have been found from Korba district. And in the last 24 hours, 3 more corona positive has been found from Korba district only. The capital city Raipur, falls under red zone with ‘cluster outbreak’, as Raipur has registered 5 corona positive cases so far. However, they all are healthy and discharged from hospital.

Durg, Rajnandgaon and Bilaspur have been included in the orange zone as they have registered just 1 case each and they have not recorded any new case in the last 14 days.

At last, we’ll discuss districts coming in the green zone. All types of shops will be opened in these districts. Also, all rural employment jobs will be started there. There are 23 districts in this zone which includes Kawardha, Mungeli, Bemetara, Korea, Jashpur, Janjgir-Champa, Dhamtari, Kanker, Bastar, Mahasamund, Raigad, Sarguja, Balod, Balodabazar, Jagdalpur, Sukma, Dantewada, Kondagaon, Bijapur, Surajpur, Gariaband, Pendra-Gorella. Till now, zero cases have been detected in these districts.