New Delhi: All of Delhi may not be declared a red zone as the national capital region (NCR) government is planning to categorise COVID-19 cases by wards and not by districts, sources said on Friday, a move that can bring relief to residents reeling under the effects of the lockdown.
In a zone-wise classification of districts in the country, the Union health ministry has designated all 11 districts of Delhi as red zones. The city has 272 wards.
The plan will be sent to the Union health ministry for approval, sources said.
Delhi reported 223 fresh cases of the coronavirus infection and the tally rose to 3,738. Two more deaths were also reported, taking the fatalities to 61.
Addressing an online briefing, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said the Delhi government will not stop clinical trials of plasma therapy to treat severely-ill COVID-19 patients as its initial results are good. The announcement came days after the Centre said that plasma therapy for the treatment of coronavirus patients is at an experimental stage and it has the potential to cause life-threatening complications.
Sources said Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal has directed officials to come up with a detailed plan on ward-wise mapping of red, orange and green zones. According to an official, an area, which reports three or more cases of COVID-19, is declared a red zone while an area, where one or two cases emerge, is identified as an orange zone.
The Centre on Friday announced that a “limited” lockdown, including suspension of inter-state travel, air and train services, will remain in force for another two weeks throughout the country from May 4 but some activities would be allowed after classifying areas into red, orange and green zones.
Delhi has been under lockdown since March 23.
After the MHA order, the Delhi Metro tweeted that its services will remain shut till May 17.
In a meeting chaired by Baijal, health secretary Padmini Singla made a detailed analysis of spatial distribution of COVID-19 cases, containment zones and ward wise mapping of red, orange and green zones.
“The Union health ministry designates any area as red, orange or green zone on district level. Delhi has only eleven districts and it is geographically different from other states.
“Once the ward-level categorisation plan is ready, it will be sent to the ministry for its approval. If we get permission, Delhi, which is entirely in the red zone, will have orange and green zones as well,” they said.
Sources said that for instance, Delhi, which currently has 100 containment zones, will have 37 orange zones and 63 red zones if categorised as wards.
“Total 6 lakh people are living in 100 containment zones and it is 3% of the total population while 1% of the total area has been declared containment zone,” one of the officials added.
To facilitate movement of migrant workers and other stranded people in the national capital, the city government on Friday appointed senior IAS officer P.K. Gupta as the “nodal officer”, and directed officials to prevent unlawful assembly or movement of persons.
All 11 districts will remain as red zones until May 17
All 11 districts in the national capital will remain classified as red zones until May 17, Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain said on Saturday.
Till Friday, the national capital had recorded 3,738 cases of coronavirus and 61 fatalities. On Friday, 223 new cases were reported.
A “limited” lockdown which includes suspension of air, train and inter-state road travel will continue to remain in force for two more weeks from May 4 across the country, but some activities would be allowed after classifications of districts into red, orange and green zones based on COVID-19 risk profiling, the government had announced on Friday.
Jain said the 11 districts in Delhi will be in the red zone till May 17.
“A red zone is an area where there are more than 10 (coronavirus) cases. The relief measures announced by centre will be made available to people,” he told reporters.
Talking about the movement of migrant labourers from Delhi to their home states, he said the government is talking to other states.
“We will provide the logistics and medical support that will be needed,” he said.