"States have been asked to classify districts which have reported a higher number of cases as hotspots, the districts where cases have been reported as non-hotspots, and green zones where no cases have been reported," Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Health Lav Agarwal said while speaking at the daily briefing.
"Hotspots are those districts which are reporting more number of cases or where the rate of growth of COVID-19 cases is high," Agarwal said, adding a detailed direction has been issued to states stating consolidated efforts are required to utilize this period of lockdown to curb the spread of the virus.
States such as Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Andhra Pradesh have highest number of districts marked as Coronavirus hotspots. As per the ministry Maharashtra has 14 such districts, Tamil Nadu 22, Rajasthan 12, Uttar Pradesh 13, Delhi 10 and Andhra Pradesh 11.
Hotspots have also been identified in other states of the country such as Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam and Himachal Pradesh. All these districts have been marked under Red Zone by the Central government.
Cabinet secretary held a video conference today with all chief secretaries, DGPs, health secretaries, collectors, SPs, municipal commissioners and CMOs where hotspots were discussed and orientation on field level implementation of containment strategy was given.
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"They were told about large outbreak containment strategies, cluster containment strategies. Delineation of buffer and containment zone, parameter mapping, defining of entry and exit points were also discussed in detail," Agarwal said.
The joint secretary said movement of people will not be allowed in containment zones except for those related with essential services and special teams will search for new cases and samples will be collected and tested as per sampling criteria.
Apart from these identified, the government has also identified 207 districts as non-hotspot district which has lesser number of Covid-19 cases and marked under White Zone and 353 districts with no cases at all under Green Zone.
Districts falling under the Green Zone are most likely to see restrictions being relaxed post April 20 if they continue to keep Coronavirus at bay, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his speech on Tuesday where he extended the nationwide lockdown till May 3.
Ministry of Home Affairs in its revised lockdown guidelines, released earlier in the day, listed services that would be exempt from the lockdown for non-hotspot districts. As per sources, even some of the districts in White Zone might also see containment measures in order to contain the Covid-19 spread.
The government has also stated that in case there are no reports of fresh Covid-19 infections from a Red Zone district in 14 days, it would be moved to the Orange Zone and if no new cases emerge in 28 days, it will be shifted to the Green Zone.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the total number of COVID-19 cases in India has risen to 11,439 with 1,076 fresh cases reported in the last 24 hours while the death toll stands at 377.
(With inputs from agencies)