Since the pandemic, the country has been divided into three zones: red, orange and green zone. According to the government, a red zone can be converted into a green zone if there are no confirmed cases or there is no reported case since last 21 days in a district.
A list of 733 zones which includes 130 red zones, 284 orange zones and 319 green zones has been made till now. The state government cannot intervene in it without any orders. However, they can assign additional orange and red zones.
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.
“This classification is multi-factorial and takes into consideration incidence of cases, doubling rate, the extent of testing and surveillance feedback to classify the districts,” health secretary Preeti Sudan has said in her letter to the state chief secretaries.
The Centre has also asked states to create buffer zones around the containment zones as a safety step to curb the impact of coronavirus. The health secretary has asked all the states to outline the containment areas and buffer zones in the identified red and orange zone districts.
“The containment zone is the core area and buffer zone is the area beyond the containment zone. The containment zone will require stricter measures like a house to house surveillance,” said a senior health ministry official, as the government shares its post lockdown plan with the states.
