The Union Health Ministry on Thursday delineated 170 districts in 25 states as COVID-19 hotspots. 207 districts in 27 states will be classified non-hotspots. According to Ministry of Health Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal, states have been directed to declare districts with higher number of cases as hotspots, those with lesser number of cases as non-hotspots, and those which have reported no cases as green zones.
How are red zone districts identified?
Red zone districts require focussed attention and are those reporting large numbers of cases or having high growth rate of infections. These are the highest case load districts contributing to more than 80 per cent of cases in lndia or highest case load districts contributing to more than 80 per cent of cases for each state in lndia.
The Indian Express reported that sixteen states have reported five or more districts: Andhra Pradesh (11), Assam (5), Delhi (10), Gujarat (6), Haryana (6), Himachal Pradesh (5), Jammu and Kashmir (8), Karnataka (8), Kerala (7), Madhya Pradesh (6), Maharashtra (14), Punjab (8), Rajasthan (12), Tamil Nadu (22), Telangana (9), and Uttar Pradesh (13). The publication reported that six states—Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, UP, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi—account for almost half of the hotspot districts identified for containment.
Major cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Pune all have been declared hotspots.
How will hotspots be managed?
Very strong containment measures will be implemented in the hotspot districts accounting for a large number of COVID-19 cases or those with fast growth of such cases, the Centre said. 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 May 3.
"Only essential services are to be permitted in these zones and strict perimeter control and strict restrictions on movement will be enforced," it said.
Cluster containment strategies will be implemented. That would include would include geographic quarantine, social distancing measures, enhanced active surveillance, testing all suspected cases, isolation of cases, quarantine of contacts and risk communication to create awareness among public on preventive public health measures. The joint secretary said movement of people will not be allowed in containment zones except for those related with essential services and special teams will search for new cases and samples will be collected and tested as per sampling criteria.
The officials said that health facilities in buffer zone outside the containment zone will be oriented and people facing SARI and influenza-like symptoms will be tested there. "Special teams have been formed which will work in containment zone and do contact tracing and house-to-house surveys. Cases of fever, cough and breathlessness will be identified in the survey and requisite action will be taken as per protocol," Agarwal said, adding that there has been no community transmissions so far but some local outbreaks.
Even in those districts which are not infected, community engagement needs to be undertaken to upgrade health infrastructure and dedicated COVID hospitals need to be set up, the official said, adding monitoring and testing of cases with SARI and influenza-like illness (ILI) symptoms need to be done.
Full list of COVID-19 hotspots
Here is a full list of COVID-19 hotspots as reported by multiple media organisations:
Andhra Pradesh: Kurnool, Guntur, Nellore, Prakasam, Krishna, YSR, West Godavari, Chittoor, Vishakhapatnam, East Godavari, and Anantapur.
Bihar: Gaya, Begusarai, Munger, Siwan
Chandigarh: Chandigarh
Chhattisgarh: Raipur, Korba
Delhi: North West, South Delhi, Shahdara, South East, West Delhi, North Delhi, Central Delhi, East Delhi, New Delhi, and South West Delhi
Gujarat: Patan, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Bhavnagar, Rajkot
Haryana: Ambala, Karnal, Nuh, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Palwal
Jammu and Kashmir: Shopian, Rajouri, Srinagar, Bandipora, Baramulla, Jammu, Udhampur, Kupwara
Karnataka: Dakshin Kannada, Bidar, Kalburgi, Bagalkote, Dharwad, Bengaluru Urban, Mysuru, Belagavi
Kerala: Wayanad, Kasargod, Kannur, Ernakulam, Malappuram, Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta
Madhya Pradesh: Morena, Indore, Bhopal, Khargone, Ujjain, Hosangabad
Maharashtra: Kolapur, Amaravati, Palghar, Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Nagpur, Sangli, Ahmednagar, Yawatmal, Aurangabad, Buldhana, Mumbai suburban and Nasik
Odisha: Bhadrak, Khurda
Punjab: Amritsar, Mansa, Ludhiyana, Moga, Sasnagar, SBS Nagar, Jalandhar, Pathankot
Rajasthan: Udaipur, Jaipur, Tonk, Jodhpur, Banswara, Kota, Jhunjhnu, Bhilwara, Jaisalmer, Bikaner, Jhalawar and Bharatpur
Tamil Nadu: Chennai, Tiruchirapalli, Coimbatore, Erode, Tirunelveli, Dindigul, Villupuram, Namakkal, Theni, Chengalpattu, Tiruppur, Vellore, Madurai, Tuticorin, Karur, Virudhnagar, Kanniyakumari, Cuddalore, Thiruvallur, Thiruvarur, Salem, and Nagapattinam.
Telangana: Nalgonda, Hyderabad, Nizamabad, Warangal Urban, Ranga Reddy, Jogulambagadwal, Medchal Malkajgiri,Karimnagar, and Nirmal.
Uttar Pradesh: Bulandshahar, Sitapur, Basti, Baghpat, Agra, Gautam Budh Nagar, Meerut, Lucknow, Ghaziabad, Saharanpur, Shamli, Firozabad, and Moradabad
Uttarkhand: Nainital, Udhamsingh Nagar, Dehradun
West Bengal: Kolkata, Howrah, Purba Medinipur, 24 Paragana North
Andaman and Nicobar: South Andaman
Assam: Golaghat, Marigaon, Nalbari, Goalpara, Dhubri
Himachal Pradesh: Solan, Una, Sirmaur, Chamba, Kangra
Jharkhand: Ranchi, Bokaro
