CENTRE NOTIFIES 10 DISTRICTS OF WEST BENGAL AS RED ZONE

 With the government extending the nationwide lockdown by two more weeks starting May 4, the Union Health Ministry has issued a revised list of districts under red, orange, and green zones Friday. A total of 130 districts across the country have been placed under the red zone, while 284 and 319 districts have been identified as orange and green zones, respectively.

Red Zones, Orange Zones, and Green Zones -- that's how districts across India are being classified right now as the country enters another phase of its battle against the novel coronavirus pandemic. The nationwide lockdown, imposed to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, has been extended till May 17 and the government has moved to a district-wise zone classification system for this period.

The zonal classification in this article is no longer in force. On May 17, the Centre authorized respective state governments and union territory administrations to delineate their own Red, Orange, and Green Zones. With that announcement, the classifications published in this article lapsed. It was in force from May 4 to May 17. The original article follows. The 733 districts of India have been broadly divided into Red Zones, Orange Zones, and Green Zones. The zone classification determines the kind of restrictions placed on the movement of people and supply of goods in a district.

When releasing this list, the government had said that the Red, Orange, and Green lockdown zones were dynamic and would be revised every week. However, since releasing the list, the government has not issued any revised classification. This story will be updated to reflect the latest classification of districts according to the central government as and when it is released.

The Red, Orange, and Green Zone classification is based on factors such as the number of novel coronavirus cases, the doubling rate of Covid-19 cases, and the extent of testing and surveillance. Red Zones have a high number of cases and a high doubling rate, Orange Zones have comparatively fewer cases and Green Zones have not had any cases in the last 21 days.

States governments and union territory administrations are allowed to classify additional districts as Red or Orange Zones. States and UTs, however, cannot lower the zone classification of a district. For example, Green Zones or Orange Zones can be re-classified as Orange Zones or Red Zones, respectively. But, Red Zones or Orange Zones cannot be re-classified as Orange Zones or Green Zones, respectively.

Within Red Zones and Orange Zones, district authorities will identify clusters (colonies/wards/towns in urban centers and villages/panchayats/blocks in rural areas) as containment zones where life will be severely restricted. The containment areas within Red and Orange Zones will be identified separately by local authorities.

Here is the full list of districts and their zone classification. This classification came into effect on May 4 and was supposed to last a week after which it was to be revised. However, the government is yet to release a revised list. These lockdown zones will be updated with any revised Red, Orange, and Green Zone classification if and when it is released by the central government. This list is based on the classification of the central government; states and Union Territories may make some modifications. Click on the respective states in the list below to find the zone classification of districts in that state.

Coronavirus Lockdown in Red/Orange/Green Zones: The government is expected to extend the lockdown in the Red Zones of India to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier, the Ministry of Home Affairs, MHA had extended the national lockdown from 4th May to 17th May. To facilitate the lockdown and to allow some easing of restrictions, the country has been divided into three zones i.e. Red Zone, Orange Zone, and Green Zone. The Union Ministry of Health & Family Affairs has come out with a list of states and districts designated as Red/Orange/Green zones for COVID-19 containment after the lockdown extension. The Ministry considered India's Coronavirus recovery rate while designating the districts as Red Zones Hotspots or Orange/Green zones. In this article, we have shared below the complete state-wise list of districts classified as COVID-19 containment zones along with the list of key districts that will be on lockdown beyond May 3, 2020.

The total number of Coronavirus positive active cases rose to 46008 as of May 11, 2020, with more than 2290 deaths and a total of 22454 recoveries so far. As per the official data, the Coronavirus Recovery rate in India has gone up to 25% from 13% earlier. Taking this as criteria along with other factors like doubling rate, the districts have been identified as Coronavirus Hotspots or Red Zones, Orange Zones, and Green Zones.

The list will be revised on weekly basis as per the latest development and as per the directions issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs. State Governments cannot change the classification of districts made by the Ministry. However, states can declare additional districts as red or orange zones on the basis of field analysis.

 Areas with several active cases and a high doubling rate of confirmed cases will be classified under Red Zones or Hotspot districts. According to the ministry guidelines, “areas that will have highest caseload districts contributing to more than 80 percent of cases in India or highest caseload districts contributing to more than 80 percent of cases for each state in India or districts with doubling rate less than four days”, will also be identified as red zone areas.

In the revised guidelines, the ministry has also divided COVID-19 affected areas within red and orange districts into two more zones which are the Containment zone and Buffer Zone. These two are identified by district authorities in clusters such as (colonies/wards/towns in urban centers and villages/panchayats/blocks in rural areas) and are basically those areas that are severely affected by the coronavirus outbreak.

According to the revised guidelines, the Red, Orange, Green, or containment Zone classification of a district will determine what activities are permitted and what kind of movement is allowed there. In the containment areas, as per the notification, there are additional restrictions.

Travel by air, rail, metro, and inter-State movement by road; schools, colleges, and other educational and training/ coaching institutions; hotels and restaurants; cinema halls, malls, gyms, sports complexes, etc; social, political, cultural, and other kinds of gatherings; and, religious places/ places of worship for the public.

However, the movement of persons by air, rail, and road is allowed for select purposes, and for purposes as permitted by the Ministry of Home Affairs. The revised guidelines also say that the movement of individuals, for all non-essential activities, shall remain strictly prohibited between 7 pm to 7 am. Whereas, it also mentions that in all zones, persons above 65 years of age, persons with co-morbidities, pregnant women, and children below the age of 10 years, shall stay at home, except for meeting essential requirements and for health purposes.