The Union Health Ministry has divided 733 districts across India into red, orange and green zones, labelling all cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad into the 'no activity zone' even after May 3.

According to the list issued, 130 red zones are formed where stricter restrictions will be imposed post-May 3. However, there will be partial easing in orange zones and substantial easing in green zones.

Maharashtra is the most affected State in the country with the toll of COVID-19 patients in the State crossing the 10,000-mark.

Cities such as Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Nagpur have seen a significant surge in the spread of the novel coronavirus. Thus, in a letter issued by the Health Ministry, 14 districts in Maharashtra are now in the red zone whereas 16 falls in orange and six come in the green zone.

Red zone: Mumbai, Mumbai Suburban, Pune, Thane, Nashik, Palghar, Nagpur, Solapur, Yavatmal, Aurangabad, Satara, Dhule, Akola and Jalgaon

Orange zone: Raigad, Ahmednagar, Amravati, Buldhana, Nandurbar, Kolhapur, Hingoli, Ratnagiri, Jalna, Nanded, Chandrapur, Parbhani, Sangli, Latur, Bhandara and Beed

Green zone: Osmanabad, Washim, Sindhudurg, Gondia, Gadchiroli and Wardha

Meanwhile, in her letter, Health Secretary Preeti Sudan said that districts were earlier re-designated as hotspots naming red zones, orange zones and green zones, mostly based on the growing cases and the doubling rate.

Since recovery rates now are scaling the districts are now being chosen across various zones, suitably broad-basing the standards.

This cataloguing is multi-factorial and takes into consideration the occurrence of cases, doubling rate, amount of testing and surveillance response to categorise the districts.

Talking about other States, Uttar Pradesh comprises of 19 red zones with Delhi having 11 regions under the red zone. Tamil Nadu also has 12 red zones. 

Union Health Secry Preeti Sudan writes to Chief Secys of all states/UTs, designating dists across all states/UTs as Red, Orange & Green Zones.

Since recovery rates have gone up, distritcs are now being designated across various zones duly broad-basing the criteria: Preeti Sudan pic.twitter.com/WjVZPJXl5q

— ANI (@ANI) May 1, 2020