Health Ministry Colour code districts to help manage COVID-19 pandemic

The Government of India decided to divide all districts across the country into hotspots, non-hotspots and green zones. The announcement was made by Lav Agarwal, joint secretary of the Health Ministry.

Highlights:
♦ The aim is to help manage the COVID-19 pandemic. It will also help the partial opening up of economic activities during the extended period of the nationwide lockdown. 
♦ The move also aims to help in the management of hotspots and the spread of the pandemic. The health and family welfare ministry has launched a new set of guidelines for the second phase of lockdown till 3 May.
♦ As of 15 April, the Ministry has identified 170 hotspot districts, 207 non-hotspot districts reporting cases and 359 green zone districts not reporting any cases across the country.
♦ These numbers will increase or decrease based on fresh cases of COVID-19 infection.
♦ The new guidelines by the Ministry are aimed to help the central and state governments to allow some economic activities in select areas. 
♦ The economic activities in the green zone districts will be allowed but restricted in the red zones, which will continue to have the current lockdown measures. 

How are the zones divided?
The Ministry of Health stated that reporting a single case of an area makes the area a hotspot. If any district reports more than 6 COVID-19 positive cases, it would be classified as a hotspot district or red zone. If there are COVID-19 positive cases, it will be classified as green zones.