New Delhi: With the scheduled end of India's second leg of the lockdown just two days away, the Union Health Ministry on Friday asked all states and Union Territories to delineate the containment areas and buffer zones in the identified red and orange zone districts and notify the same.
In a letter to all chief secretaries of states and UTs, Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan said since the recovery rates have gone up, districts are now being designated across various zones.
"A district will be considered under the green zone if there are no confirmed cases so far or there is no reported case for the last 21 days in the district," said Sudan.
She further said that for districts having one or more municipal corporations, corporations and other areas may be treated as separate units.
"If one or more of these have reported no cases for last 21 days, they can be considered 1 level, the lowest in Zonal classification, if the district is under red or orange zone," she said.
The Health Secretary said that the list will be revised on a weekly basis or earlier and communicated to states for further follow-up action in consonance with the directions issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 based on field feedback and additional analysis at the state level, states may designate additional red or orange zones as appropriate.
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However, states may not relax the zonal classification of districts classified as red or orange as communicated by the Ministry. This classification is multi-factorial and takes into consideration the incidence of cases, doubling rate, the extent of testing and surveillance feedback to classify the districts.
Pertinently, Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba on Thursday evening had a video conference with State Chief Secretaries and Health Secretaries over the same issue. Preeti Sudan was also present in the meeting.
(With inputs from IANS)
