The West Bengal government on Friday said that the Centre’s classification of ten districts in the State as red zones is erroneous. As per the Centre’s criteria, the number of red zone districts should be four, not ten.
“This is an erroneous assessment. Based on the current parameters of Government of India for the categorisation of areas for coronavirus (COVID-19), the districts [that] are in red zone are only four — Kolkata, Howrah, North 24 Parganas and Purba Medinipur,” State Health Secretary Vivek Kumar said in a letter to Preeti Sudan, Secretary-Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
In the presentation made by the Cabinet Secretary during a video conference with Chief Secretaries, and in Ms. Sudan’s letter to Chief Secretaries on Thursday, West Bengal is stated to have ten districts in red zones. Mr. Kumar’s letter says that in certain districts like Kalimpong, which are included in the red zone, the last coronavirus case was recorded as early as April 2. In Jalpaiguri, also included in the red zone list, the last positive case was recorded on April 4, and similarly in Murshidabad on April 16.
52% in Kolkata
There are eight green zone districts in West Bengal where no COVID-19 cases have been recorded so far. Mr. Kumar in his letter also pointed out that there had been 489 COVID-19 cases in Kolkata till April 30. According to the communication received till April 30, there have been 931 cases in West Bengal, and Kolkata alone accounts for 52% of all cases. After Kolkata, it is Howrah, with 176 cases, that has the second highest number of COVID-19 cases. North 24 Parganas, with 122 cases, stands third in the highest number of cases.