Lockdown: All Metros, Including Hyderabad To Continue As Red Zones After May 3

NEW DELHI: The Union health ministry has designated all major metropolitan cities-Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Ahmadabad, as red zones after the lockdown ends on May 3.

In a letter issued to chief secretaries of all states and union territories, Union health secretary Preeti Sudan gave a list of 130 red zones, 284 orange zones and 319 green zones at the district level across the country for containment operations.

The states and local bodies are to demarcate containment areas and buffer zones for strict monitoring of movement.

While in urban districts, containment zones will be demarcated on the basis of residential colony, mohallas, municipal wards, police-station area, municipal zones, or towns.

In rural areas these zones will be based on villages, clusters of villages, gram panchayats, among others.

All States are requested to delineate the containment zones and buffer zones in the identified red and orange zone districts and notify the same.

In all containment areas, stringent perimeter control with measures such as establishing clear entry and exit points, no movement except for medical emergencies and essential goods and services, no unchecked influx of population, active search for cases through house to house surveillance, testing of all cases, contact tracing and clinical management of all confirmed cases are to be implemented.

If one or more of these units have reported no COVID-19 cases for last 21 days, they can be considered as one level lower in zonal classification, in case the district is in red or orange zone.

The list will be revised on a weekly basis or earlier and communicated to states for further follow-up action in consonance with the directions issued by Ministry of Home Affairs under the Disaster Management Act, 2005," Sudan said in the letter.(Source: Live Mint)

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