India has 130 red, 284 orange and 319 green COVID-19 zones

New Delhi:India has 130 red hotspots, 284 orange and 319 green zones across the country as on April 30.

However, all four major metropolitan cities -- Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai -- have been classified as red zones. Among other cities, Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Indore, Bhopal, Patna, Ahmedabad, Surat, Pune and Nagpur also fit in among the red zones.

This is according to the classification of districts across all states and union territories by the Health Ministryfollowing the Coronavirus outbreak.Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan has written to Chief Secretaries of all states and UTs delineating this classification.

"The districts were earlier designated as hotspots/red-zones, orange zones and green zones primarily based on the cumulative cases reported and the doubling rate. Since recovery rates have gone up, the districts are now being designated across various zones duly broad-basing the criteria," the Union Health Secretary has written.

Uttar Pradesh has the maximum of 19 Red zones followed by Maharashtra with 14 and Tamil Nadu which has reported 12 red zones. Delhi, the National Capital, is ranked fourth having 11 red zones. West Bengal is in fifth place with 10 red zones.

Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of orange zones at 36 followed by Tamil Nadu with 24 and Bihar with 20 orange zones.

Assam is relatively COVID-free, topping with maximum green zones of 30, followed by Arunachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh both having 25 green zones. Madhya Pradesh has 24 green zones. 

The letter said, "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. A district will be considered green zone if there are no confirmed cases so far or there is no reported case in the last 21 days in the district." 

According to Ms Sudan "for districts having one or more municipal corporations, corporations and other areas of districts may be treated as separate units. If one or more of these have reported no cases for the last 21 days, they can be considered 1 level lower in zonal classification, if the district is in Red/Orange zone."(UNI)