Coronavirus: Red zone districts reduce from 170 to 130 in a fortnight

The number of red zone districts in India has reduced from 170 a fortnight ago to 130 with population-dense cities – Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad – making it to the list where restrictions would continue beyond May 3.

The number of green zones – with zero COVID-19 cases – have also reduced from 356 to 319, indicating the fragile nature of of the disease-free status of the districts as infections continue to rise every day.

For latest updates and live news on coronavirus, click here

In Karnataka, Bengaluru Urban, Mysuru and Bengaluru Rural districts have been designated in the red zone, as per the letter written by Health Secretary Preeti Sudan to Chief Secretaries and Health Secretaries of states following their meeting with Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba on Thursday.

As on Friday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases across the country had risen to 35,365 with the death toll spiking up by 77 to touch 1152.

The number of orange zones has increased from 207 to 284, with 13 districts of Karnataka figuring in the list. The other prominent cities in the Red Zone include Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Faridabad, Noida, Lucknow, Agra, Pune, Jaipur and Bhopal.

Coronavirus: Full list of Red, Orange and Green Zones in India, state-wise and district-wise

The Centre also tweaked a key criterion used to classify the green, orange and red zones. From now on, a district that remains disease-free for 21 days as against the 28 days earlier.

“The districts were earlier designated as hotspots/red-zones, orange zones and green zones primarily based on the cumulative cases reported and the doubling rate. Since recovery rates have gone up, the districts are now being designated across various zones duly broad-basing the criteria."

“This classification is multi-factorial and takes into consideration incidence of cases, doubling rate, the extent of testing and surveillance feedback to classify the districts,” the Union Health Secretary said.

“It is critical to ensure necessary action for containment to break the chain of transmission of the virus in both red and orange zone districts reporting confirmed cases,” Sudan said listing out measures for stringent perimeter control of containment zone by establishing clear entry and exit points, no movement except for medical emergencies and essential goods and services, no unchecked influx of population.