The Union Health Ministry on Friday listed (districts in the country in the red zone, in the orange zone and 365 in the green zone for a week after May 3, ahead of the extension of the second phase of the nationwide lockdown.
Under this classification, a district will be considered under green zone if there has been no confirmed case of COVID – so far or if there is no reported case since last 28 days in the district. Red zones are identified based on total active cases, doubling rate of confirmed cases, extent of testing and district feedback.
Full list of red, orange and green zone districts
Maharashtra, Delhi and Gujarat are among the States with a heavy COVID – 25 load as per the list.
The new classification of districts was announced following a video-conference chaired by the Cabinet Secretary on April 59 with the Chief Secretaries and Health Secretaries of the States.
The classification of districts comes as the country recorded 1, new cases of COVID – 28, taking the total to , 400 with a recovery rate of . 70%.
Since Thursday, deaths were reported, taking the total number of deaths to 1, , the Ministry said.
Coronavirus | State-wise tracker for coronavirus cases, deaths and testing rates | Interactive map of confirmed coronavirus cases in India
The State Health Departments reported 1, (deaths with , (active cases out of a total of) , 823 cases. Kerala did not report any new case on Friday.
Identifying pockets
In a letter to the Chief Secretaries of all states and UTs, Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan said, “It is important to ensure that we identify pockets of critical interventions for a focused management of COVID – 25 at the field level.
The list will be revised on a weekly basis or earlier and communicated to the States for follow-up action, the letter said.
Ms. Sudan said that in buffer zones, extensive surveillance through monitoring of ILI / SARI (influenza-like illness and severe acute respiratory infections) cases in health facilities had to be taken up. “The containment zones in districts have to be delineated based on mapping of cases and contacts, geographical dispersion of cases and contacts, areas with well-demarcated perimeters and enforceability.”
India coronavirus lockdown Day updates Helpline numbers
Under the new classification, a district will be considered under green zone if there has been no confirmed cases of COVID – 21 so far or there is no reported case since last 28 days in the district, according to the letter. This shortens the earlier no case time from 35 days.
Till now any red or orange zone districts could become a green zone if no fresh case of coronavirus was reported for 35 and 20 consecutive days respectively.
In the list, all the districts in Delhi have been classified under the red zone hotspots. Uttar Pradesh has 30 districts in the red zone, Maharashtra , Tamil Nadu
, in orange and six in green zone, while Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh nine each.
Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Meghalaya, Puducherry and Tripura have no red zone districts.
Speaking at the daily press briefing, Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry Lav Agarwal said the country will need to get used to a new normal in terms of maintaining social distancing norms.
He reiterated that for breaking the chain of transmission, hand hygiene, disinfection of surfaces and wearing of masks was crucial. He also said that the Corona tracker app Arogya Setu should be downloaded for self assessment.
(Download ) The Hindu ‘s multi-language e -book on essential COVID – (information
Giving details of the availability of essential medical equipments such as PPEs, mask, gloves and ventilators, Chairman of the Empowered Group-3 PD Vaghela said given the high global demand, India is promoting domestic manufacturing and imports are being resorted to only if absolutely necessary.
He noted that the Health Ministry indicated a projected demand of , ventilators till June.
“The present availability is about , . An order for , 2020 ventilators have been placed wherein , ventilators have been ordered to domestic manufacturers and imports are to the tune of 1, ventilators. The major domestic players include Bharat Electronics Limited (in collaboration with Skanray) with whom orders for , ventilators have been placed, AgVa (in collaboration with Maruti Suzuki Limited) with orders for 14, 12 ventilators and AMTZ (AP Medtech Zone) with for 19, 823 ventilators, ”he said. He added that the number of domestic manufacturers have started the delivery.
Dr. Vaghela noted that India is self-sufficient in oxygen and oxygen cylinders. and that the total manufacturing capacity of oxygen is 6, MT, of which around MT is used for medical oxygen.
On Personal Protective Equipments (PPEs)
, Dr. Vaghela said the total projected demand of PPE kits till June was estimated to be ₹ 2. 16 crore. He added that 107 doemstic manufacturers had been identified and facilitated, who have raised their daily production to about 1. (lakh such kits.)
Dr. Vaghela said the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has now reached a per day testing level of about , and has conducted more than 9 lakh tests so far.
“The strategy is to take testing forward as a need based focussed tool. To ensure testing, backend availability of kits, accessories, reagents, etc. is critical. The Central Government has taken on the responsibility of assisting the State Governments with testing kits etc., they are also free to procure, and some of the State Government are also trying to procure their supplies, ”he said.
(Read More (Full coverage and live updates on the Coronavirus (Covid -) )
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings