Coronavirus lockdown 3.0: Govt identifies Delhi, Mumbai, all metros as red zones post May 3

The government has finalised the criteria for demarcation of different zones after May 3. It has said that all metro zones including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad will be declared as red zones. The Ministry of Health based the list on factors such as number of cases, doubling rate, extent of testing and surveillance feedback.

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According to the ministry, a district will be considered a green zone if there have been no new cases for 21 days, instead of the 28 days mandated earlier. As per these rules, there are 130 districts that have been identified as red zones, while 284 have been marked as orange zones and 319 are green zones. The list was prepared during a meeting called by the Cabinet Secretary on Thursday with all Chief Secretaries and Secretaries of the health departments.

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The ministry has identified 14 districts in Maharashtra, 11 in Delhi, 12 in Tamil Nadu, 19 in Uttar Pradesh, 10 in West Bengal, nine each in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh and eight in Rajasthan as red zones. Twenty districts in Bihar, 36 in Uttar Pradesh, 24 in Tamil Nadu, 19 in Rajasthan, 15 in Punjab, 19 in Madhya Pradesh and 16 in Maharashtra have been identified as orange zones. Meanwhile, 30 districts in Assam, 25 each in Chhattisgarh and Arunachal Pradesh, 24 in Madhya Pradesh, 21 in Odisha, 20 in Uttar Pradesh and 10 in Uttarakhand have been declared as green zones.

All of Delhi's districts and Faridabad have been identified as red zones, while Gurugram has been declared an orange zone. Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddha Nagar, Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra, Saharanpur, Meerut, Raibarailley, Aligarh are all red zones, while Ghaziabad, Hapur, Bagpat, Shamli, Prayagraj have been declared orange zones.

The health ministry also said that based on all the feedback and additional analysis at state level, states could declare additional red or orange zones as appropriate. The ministry said that containment zones will also be earmarked in all urban and rural districts. Containment zones will be marked on the basis of residential colonies, mohallas, municipal wards, police station areas and municipal zones and towns in urban districts. In case of rural districts containment zones will be marked on the basis of villages, clusters of villages, and gram panchayats. The ministry also said that a buffer zone around a containment zone will be demarcated. Extensive surveillance for cases will be undertaken in these buffer zones.

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