Telangana sees red as Centre puts 8 districts in hotspots list, leaves out key spots

Koride Mahesh | TNN | Apr 16, 2020, 06:21 IST

Lockdown in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: Centre’s list of hotspots (red zones) and nonhotspots for Covid-19 cases has left officials in Telangana baffled. State officials said the exercise defied logic as the districts with large number of coronavirus positive cases Telangana did not figure in the central list of red zones, while those with relatively less cases did.
Eights districts — Hyderabad, Nizamabad, Warangal Urban, Rangareddy, Jogulamba-Gadwal, Medchal-Malkajgiri, Karimnagar and Nirmal — were bracketed under the red zone category, while 19 districts were listed as non-hotspots.

A senior health official told TOI that though Vikarabad reported 32 cases and Suryapet 23, they were not in the red zone. “Karimnagar district which has 19 cases (only four left as 15 have been discharged) has been demarcated as a red zone. Similarly, Medchal-Malkajgiri, which has only two cases (other than GHMC area), is listed among the hotspots,” he said.
While the state authorities were clueless on the Cenrte’s criteria for the list, senior health officials said they would go ahead with the containment plan (hotspots) by restricting the movement of people in the identified 259 locations and areas in the state.