India's 170 hotspot districts named as MHA unveils coronavirus COVID-19 second phase lockdown guidelines

The MHA guidelines come a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the extension of the three-week nationwide lockdown for another 19 days till May 3 to battle the coronavirus pandemic.

New Delhi: Union Health Ministry on Wednesday (April 15) declared 170 districts as coronavirus COVID-19 hotspots and 207 districts as non-hotspots. Hotspots are those districts which are reporting more number of cases or where the rate of growth of COVID-19 cases is high. 

Addressing the daily briefing to provide updates on coronavirus situation in the country, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Health Lav Agarwal said that states have been asked to classify districts witnessing higher number of cases as hotspots, districts where some cases have been found as non-hotspots, and those which have reported no cases as green zones.

Agarwal said, "As per data till yesterday, 170 districts have been classified as hotspot districts. Non-hotspot districts where cases have been reported are 207 in number," adding "Cluster containment plan needs to be implemented in those 207 non-hotspots as they can develop as potential hotspots."

He also clarified that "There is no community transmission in the country so far. What we are seeing is some local outbreaks and clusters, where cluster and outbreak containment strategies are being adopted." 

Agarwal said the cabinet secretary held a video conference today with all chief secretaries, DGPs, health secretaries, collectors, SPs, municipal commissioners and CMOs where hot spots was discussed and orientation on field level implementation of containment strategy was given.

The joint secretary said that these officials were also told about large outbreak containment strategies, cluster containment strategies, besides discussing delineation of buffer and containment zone, parameter mapping, defining of entry and exit points in detail

The ministry has defined Red, Orange and Green Zones. The Hotspot Red Zone Districts can become Orange zone if no new cases reported in the last 14 days, while the oranage zone can convert into Green zone if no case is reported in the last 14 days.

If the Red zone has to convert in the Green zone, it will take 28 days in which no cases out to be reported.

District-wise COVID-19 Hotspots in India: 170

Total hotspots Red Zone Districts: 123 (Large Outbreak)

1- Andhra Pradesh (11 Districts): Kurnool, Guntur, Nellore, Prakasam, Krishna, YSR, West Godavari, Chittoor, Vishakhapatnam, East Godavari, and Anantapur.

2- Bihar (1 District): Siwan

3- Chandigarh UT (1 District): Chandigarh

4- Chhatisgarh (1 District): Korba

5- Delhi: (9 Districts): South Delhi, Shahdara, South East, West Delhi, North Delhi, Central Delhi, East Delhi, New Delhi, and South West Delhi

6- Gujarat (5 Districts): Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Bhavnagar, Rajkot

7- Haryana (4 Districts): Nuh, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Palwal

8- Jammu and Kashmir (6 Districts): Srinagar, Bandipora, Baramulla, Jammu, Udhampur, Kupwara

9- Karnataka (3 Districts): Bengaluru Urban, Mysuru, Belagavi

10- Kerala (6 Districts): Kasargod, Kannur, Ernakulam, Malappuram, Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta

11- Madhya Pradesh (5 Districts): Indore, Bhopal, Khargone, Ujjain, Hosangabad

12- Maharashtra (11 Districts): Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Nagpur, Sangli, Ahmednagar, Yawatmal, Aurangabad, Buldhana, Mumbai suburban and Nasik

13- Odisha (1 District): Khurda

14- Punjab (4 Districts): Sasnagar, SBS Nagar, Jalandhar, Pathankot

15- Rajasthan (11 Districts): Jaipur, Tonk, Jodhpur, Banswara, Kota, Jhunjhnu, Bhilwara, Jaisalmer, Bikaner, Jhalawar and Bharatpur

16- Tamil Nadu (22 Districts): Chennai, Tiruchirapalli, Coimbatore, Erode, Tirunelveli, Dindigul, Villupuram, Namakkal, Theni, Chengalpattu, Tiruppur, Vellore, Madurai, Tuticorin, Karur, Virudhnagar, Kanniyakumari, Cuddalore, Thiruvallur, Thiruvarur, Salem, and Nagapattinam.

17-Telangana (8 Districts): Hyderabad, Nizamabad, Warangal Urban, Ranga Reddy, Jogulambagadwal, Medchal Malkajgiri,
Karimnagar, and Nirmal.

18- Uttar Pradesh (9 Districts): Agra, Gautam Budh Nagar, Meerut, Lucknow, Ghaziabad, Saharanpur, Shamli, Firozabad, and Moradabad

19- Uttarkhand (1 District): Dehradun

20- West Bengal (4 Districts): Kolkata, Howrah, Purba Medinipur, 24 Paragana North

47 Hotspot Districts with Cluster

1- Andaman and Nicobar: (District -1): South Andaman

2 -Assam (Districts 5): Golaghat, Marigaon, Nalbari, Goalpara, Dhubri

3 -Bihar (Districts 3): Munger, Begusarai, Gaya

4- Chhatisgarh (District 1): Raipur

5- Delhi (Districts 1): North West

6- Gujarat (District 1): Patan

7- Haryana (District 2): Ambala, Karnal

8- Himachal Pradesh (Districts 5): Solan, Una, Sirmaur, Chamba, Kangra

9- Jammu and Kashmir (Districts 2): Shopian, Rajouri

10- Jharkhand (Districts 2): Ranchi, Bokaro

11- Karnataka (Districts 5): Dakshin Kannada, Bidar, Kalburgi, Bagalkote, Dharwad

12- Kerala (District 1): Wayanad

13- Ladakh (District 1): Kargil

14- Madhya Pradesh (District 1): Morena

15- Maharashtra (Districts 3): Kolapur, Amaravati, Palghar

16- Odisha (District 1): Bhadrak

7- Punjab (Districts 4): Amritsar, Mansa, Ludhiyana, Moga

18- Rajasthan (District 1): Udaipur

19- Telangana (District 1): Nalgonda

20- UP (Districts 4): Bulandshahar, Sitapur, Basti, Baghpat

21- Uttarakhand (Districts 2): Nainital, Udhamsingh Nagar

As the second phase of the national lockdown came into force today, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) unveiled the consolidated revised guidelines to provide many relaxations to the restrictions in a range of areas with conditions.

Agriculture, construction, Information Technology, industrial units in the SEZs and rural areas are among the sectors where the coronavirus-induced lockdown restrictions will be lifted from April 20 in a bid to kickstart the nation's battered economy and reduce the distress caused to millions of people.

As part of the series of restrictions, spitting in public places has been prohibited and it will be a punishable offence with a fine under the Disaster Management Act. Any violation may result in imprisonment of up to one year or a fine, or both. Wearing of masks in public places has also been made compulsory and sale of liquor, gutka, and tobacco totally banned.

The guidelines come a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the extension of the three-week nationwide lockdown for another 19 days till May 3 to battle the coronavirus pandemic. 

The number of coronavirus COVID-19 infections inched towards 12,000 while the death toll crossed 400, according to official data today.