Kolkata, May1, 2020

 

 

Central government has notified 10 districts of West Bengal as red zone out of total 130 red zones in the country. These are Kolkata, Howrah, 24 Paraganas North, 24 Paraganas South, Medinipur West, Medinipur East, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Kalimpong, Maldah. Apart from West Bengal there are only four states having double figure red zones. These are Uttar Pradesh (19), Maharastra (14), Tamil Nadu (12) and Delhi (11). Whereas 15 states/ U Ts have no red zones. This was disclosed in letter written by the Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Smt. Preeti Sudan.

 In a letter written to all the Chief Secretaries of the states and UTs the Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said that 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. This classification is multi-factorial and takes into consideration incidence of cases, doubling rate, extent of testing and surveillance feedback to classify the districts. A district will be considered under Green Zone, if there are no confirmed cases so far or there is no reported case since last 21 days in the district.

          Referring to the question of raising some objections on inclusion of some districts in the red zone by the Centre the Secretary said that this is a dynamic list. 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 Ministry of Home Affairs under the Disaster Management Act, 2005. She also stated that It is further highlighted that based on field feedback and additional analysis at state level, states may designate additional red or orange zones as appropriate. However, states may not relax the zonal classification of districts classified as red/orange as communicated by the Ministry.

          Regarding containment zone the letter states that the containment zones in these districts have to be delineated based on:

. Mapping of cases & contacts

. Geographical dispersion of cases and contacts

. Area with well demarcated perimeter

. Enforceability

Depending on above factors, for urban areas- residential colony/mohallas/municipal wards or police-station area/municipal zones/towns etc. as appropriate can be designated as containment zones. Similarly, for rural areas -

villages/ clusters of villages or group of police stations/gram panchayats/ blocks etc. as appropriate can be designated as containment zones. The area should be appropriately defined by the district administration/local urban body with technical inputs from local level. In the spirit of effective containment, it is advisable to err on the side of caution. Further, a buffer zone around containment zone has to be demarcated.

Necessary action should then be initiated in these areas as part of the

Containment Action Plans already communicated including -

. Stringent Perimeter control

. Establishing clear entry and exit points

. No movement except for medical emergencies and essential goods &

services

. No unchecked influx of population

. People transiting to be recorded & followed through IDSP

. Active search for cases through house to house surveillance by special teams

formed for the purpose

. Testing of all cases as per sampling guidelines

. Contact tracing

. Clinical management of all confirmed cases

Similarly, in buffer zones, extensive surveillance for cases through monitoring of

ILI/SARI cases in health facilities have to be taken up.

         

The letter of the Health Secretary is as follows:-

 

 

CG/SDG

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