Centre Designates All metros in red zones for lockdown post-May 3

All metros in red zones: The Union health ministry has designated all major metropolitan cities—Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad—as red zones after the lockdown ends on May 3 and asked states and local bodies to demarcate containment areas and buffer zones for strict monitoring of movement.

Health Secretary Preeti Sudan, in a letter to chief secretaries of all states and union territories, has mentioned a list of 130 red zones, 284 orange zones and 319 green zones across the country.

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

Union Health Secry Preeti Sudan writes to Chief Secys of all states/UTs, designating dists across all states/UTs as Red, Orange & Green Zones.

Since recovery rates have gone up, distritcs are now being designated across various zones duly broad-basing the criteria: Preeti Sudan pic.twitter.com/WjVZPJXl5q

— ANI (@ANI) May 1, 2020

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, the 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 May 3, 130 districts have been categorized 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.

The health ministry has asked stringent for stringent measures to be taken in these areas. As per the health ministry, the containment zones in these districts have been delineated based on