COVID-19: The Union Health Ministry has designated 9 districts in Uttar Pradesh on the Red Zone list, according to the letter sent to states by the Health ministry, HT had reported on Friday. On the other hand, a total of 36 districts have been put under Orange zone and 20 districts have been notified under Green zone. Districts which have been put under Red Zone include Agra, Lucknow, Saharanpur, Kanpur Nagar, Moradabad, Firozabad, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Bulandshahr, Meerut, Rae Bareli, Varanasi, Bijnor, Amroha, Sant Kabir Nagar, Aligarh, Muzaffarnagar, Rampur, Mathura, and Bareilly.
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The Red zone districts are expected to face severe restrictions even after the second phase of the lockdown comes to an end on May 3. According to the government, Red and Orange zone districts were notified after taking into account the incidence of positive cases, rate of doubling cases in the area, extent of testing and surveillance by the authorities. On the other hand, Green zone districts have not reported the incidence of any positive case in the last 21 days, the report citing the Union Health Ministry said.
The list will be updated every week according to the evolving situation on the ground. The Union government has also allowed the state governments to put areas from Green zone list to Red and Orange zone areas on the basis of the local feedback. However, it has prohibited the state governments from easing any restrictions in the Orange and Red zone districts.
After Uttar Pradesh, a total of 14 districts in Maharashtra have been put on the Red Zone list followed by Tamil Nadu (12), Delhi (11), West Bengal (10), Gujarat(9), Madhya Pradesh(9), Rajasthan (8) and Telangana (6). Situation continues to remain precarious in the national capital as all the eleven districts have been put under the Red zone. Positive cases of Covid-19 have been reported from all the districts in Delhi leading to a consistent rise in the tally of cases.
