India’s entire Delhi, 14 districts in Maharashtra declared red zone, they will not be able to exit lockdown after May 3

NEW DELHI, May 1, 2020, India Today. As the extended lockdown nears an end on May 3, the health ministry has finalised the list of containment zones and divided the states and districts into different categories according to the coronavirus situation in these areas, India Today reported.

Consulting the state governments and the chief secretaries of the states, the health ministry has decided to put all metro cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, in the Red Zone. The Red Zone cities also include Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad.

The demarcation will help the government to finalise the lockdown exit plan following May 3 and whether it will be extended in some areas or the blanket ban on activities will continue.

The districts have been divided into three categories Red Zone, Orange Zone and Green Zone.

How the Health Ministry has divided the states into different categories:

1. All districts of Delhi have been categorized as Red Zone while Maharashtra has the maximum number of Red Zone districts among all states.

2. Based on multi-factorial information, including the incidence of cases, doubling rate, extent of testing and surveillance feedback, Ministry of Health has released the district-wise list of containment zones.

3. As per the new classification, a district will be considered a Green Zone if there are no confirmed cases so far or no reported case in the last 21 days (instead of 28 days).

4. As per this fresh list for the week after May3, 130 districts have been categorised in the Red Zone, 284 in the Orange Zone and 319 in Green Zone.

5. All Metro cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad have been demarcated as Red Zone. All metros to remain in Red Zone even after May 3.

6. With Maharashtra crossing 10,000 coronavirus cases, the highest in the country, 14 districts have been named as red zones.

7. In Delhi 11 districts, 12 districts in Tamil Nadu, 19 districts in Uttar Pradesh, 10 districts in West Bengal, 9 each in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh and 8 districts in Rajasthan have been declared red zones.

8. 20 districts in Bihar, 36 districts in UP, 24 districts in Tamil Nadu, 19 districts in Rajasthan, 15 in Punjab, 19 in Madhya Pradesh and 16 districts in Maharashtra fall under the Orange Zone category.

9. Assam has the maximum number of Green Zone districts at 30.

10. 25 districts in Chhattisgarh, 25 districts in Arunachal, 24 districts in Madhya Pradesh, 21 in Odisha, 20 in UP and 10 in Uttarakhand have been declared Green Zone.

11. In Delhi, all 11 districts have been declared Red Zone, whereas Gurugram is in the Orange Zone, but Faridabad is in Red Zone. In UP, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra, Saharanpur, Meerut, Raibareili, Aligarh are in Red Zone. Ghaziabad, Hapur, Bagpat, Shamli, Prayagraj fall under the orange category.

12. As per the Union Health Ministry, after field feedback and additional analysis, the states can further designate additional red or orange zones as appropriate.

13. Authorities must demarcate a buffer zone around the containment zones.

The district-wise list of containment zones was discussed and prepared during a meeting called by the Cabinet Secretary on Thursday with all state chief secretaries and secretaries of health.

The report was finalised on Thursday based on weekly review meetings with all states.

India has so far recorded over 33,000 coronavirus cases with over 1,000 deaths. Maharashtra has the highest number of cases among all states with over 10,000 positive Covid-19 cases.