Categorise  red, orange & green zones: Health ministry to states

New Delhi: The Union ministry of health in a notification has issued new guidelines asking all the states to categorise districts, municipal corporations or, if warranted, subdivisions, wards and any other administrative units as red, orange and green zones, as per their field assessment.

A press release issued by the ministry reads, “This has to be done based on multi factorial analysis on the combination of the parameters shared by MoHFW, which are namely, total active cases, active cases per lakh population, doubling rate(calculated over 7 days period), case fatality rate, testing ratio and test confirmation rate.”

It also cited that the states have been asked to meticulously delineate the containment and buffer zones. The states have also been asked to ensure stringent implementation of the containment plans in these containment zones.

“In the containment zones, active search for cases through the house to house surveillance by special teams, testing of all cases as per sampling guidelines, contact tracing, clinical management of all confirmed cases are the priority tasks. Active involvement of community should be sought in this regard,” the press statement read.

The ministry also said that around each containment zone, a buffer zone has to be delineated so as to ensure that infection does not spread to the adjoining areas. In buffer zones, extensive surveillance for cases through monitoring ILI/SARI cases in health facilities has to be coordinated.

“It is important to ensure effective community awareness on preventive measures such as personal hygiene, hand hygiene and respiratory etiquettes, promote use of face cover and physical distancing through enhanced IEC activities,” the press statement added.

On Tuesday morning, the total number of coronavirus cases in India reached 101,139, with the death toll standing at 3,163.

According to the latest updates provided by the Union health ministry, there are 58,802 active cases with 3,163 deaths so far in the country. As many as 39,173 patients have been cured or discharged and one has migrated.