The Union Health Ministry has declared 170 districts in 25 states as COVID-19 hotspots and 207 districts in 27 states as non-hotspots, officials said on Wednesday, reiterating that there has been no community transmission of the disease in the country so far.
Addressing the daily briefing to provide updates on coronavirus situation in the country, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Health Lav Agarwal said that states have been asked to classify districts witnessing a higher number of cases as hotspots, districts where some cases have been found as non-hotspots, and those which have reported no cases as green zones.
Hotspots are those districts which are reporting more number of cases or where the rate of growth of COVID-19 cases is high, Agarwal said, adding that a detailed direction has been issued to states stating consolidated efforts are required to utilise this period of lockdown to curb the spread of the virus.
“As per data till Wednesday (15 April), 170 districts have been classified as hotspot districts. Non-hotspot districts where cases have been reported are 207 in number”, Agarwal said.
“Cluster containment plan needs to be implemented in those 207 non-hotspots as they can develop as potential hotspots”, the official said.
On 15 April, the government said that very strong containment measures will be implemented in the hotspot districts.
All health services, including AYUSH, hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, telemedicine facilities, dispensaries, chemists, pharmacies as well as all kinds of medicine shops, Jan Aushadhi Kendras and medical equipment shops, will remain functional, according to the new guidelines issued by the Centre a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the extension of the nationwide lockdown till 3 May.
“Very strong containment measures will be implemented in the hotspot districts accounting for a large number of COVID-19 cases or with fast growth of cases,” a government statement on the guidelines said.
“Only essential services are to be permitted in these zones and strict perimeter control and strict restrictions on movement enforced,” it said.
“Hotspots” — areas of large COVID-19 outbreaks — or clusters with significant spread of COVID-19 will be determined as per the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW), the guidelines said.
In the hotspots, containment zones will be demarcated by states/union territories/district administration as per the guidelines of the health ministry, it said.
“In these containment zones..there shall be strict perimeter control in the area of the containment zones to ensure that there is no unchecked inward/outward movement of population from these zones except for maintaining essential services (including medical emergencies and law and order related duties) and government business continuity,” they said.
The guidelines stated that medical laboratories and collection centres, pharmaceutical and medical research labs, institutions carrying out COVID-19 related research, veterinary hospitals, dispensaries, clinics, pathology labs and sale and supply of vaccine and medicine will remain operational.
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