Number Of COVID-19 Hotspots Down In 2 Weeks, But So Are Virus-Free Zones

Coronavirus Red Zones in India decrease, says health ministry

The number of coronavirus hotspots, or "red zones", across India have fallen by around 23 per cent in 15 days, the government said on Thursday, from 170 on April 15 to 130 on April 30. However, in the same period, the number of "green zones", or districts reporting no new COVID-19 case, have decreased from 356 to 319, indicating the virus is spreading, albeit with reduced intensity, to previously unaffected areas of the country.

The number of "orange zones" have increased - from 207 to 284, as per a letter from the Union Health Ministry to the chief secretaries of all states and union territories, following a video conference yesterday.

In a major change of criterion the government will now consider an infection-free period of 21 days to designate a district as "green", or virus-free. Previously this number was 28 days.

All seven metro cities in the country, including national capital Delhi, are in "red zones", with Mumbai and Delhi alone accounting for more than 10,000 cases between them.

Maharashtra, the worst-affected state in the country (10,498 cases and 459 deaths) has 14 "red zones". Uttar Pradesh has the maximum number - 19. Delhi has 11 (the entire city has been designated "red"), Tamil Nadu has 12 and West Bengal has 10.

The maximum number of "green" zones are in Assam, which has 30 such areas. Other states in the northeast of India have similar numbers - Arunachal Pradesh has 25, Manipur 16, Meghalaya 10 and Mizoram and Nagaland have 11 each. Tripura has six and Sikkim four.

Health Ministry Letter by NDTV on Scribd

"It is critical to ensure necessary action for containment (in order) to break chain of transmission of virus in both red and orange zone districts reporting confirmed cases," the letter read.

The letter also outlines necessary action to be taken to control containment zones, including "establishing clear entry and exit points (and) no movement except for medical emergencies and essential goods and services"

State governments have also been urged to carry out door-to-door screening to identify potential COVID-19 cases and isolate them as quickly as possible.

This morning India recorded its biggest single-day spike in new coronavirus cases, with 1,993 being reported in the past 24 hours; this includes 73 deaths. The total number of cases in the country has crossed 35,000 with 1,147 deaths.

Coronavirus Red Zones: Number of red zones has fallen in 15 day-period ending April 30, the government has said

Over the past few days the government has focused on two metrics to suggest the COVID-19 outbreak in the country is under control - recovery rate and doubling time.

The recovery rate - percentage of people discharged after treatment - has crossed 25 per cent, the Health Ministry said on Thursday, noting that it marked a significant improvement from two weeks ago.

The doubling time - the number of days for cases to double - has improved to 11 days from 3.4 days before the lockdown, the ministry added.

The ministry has also said the current fatality rate of COVID-19 cases in the country was around 3.2 per cent, with 65 per cent of all deaths being male.

"Our analysis finds that the rate of growth in positive cases and fatalities has been consistently lower - linear but non-exponential," Amitabh Kant, chief executive of the government think-tank Niti Aayog, said.

India is currently under a nationwide lockdown ordered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March and extended to May 3 last month.

The Prime Minister has yet to confirm whether the lockdown, which the government has credited with slowing the rate of infection, will continue past Monday.