West Bengal calls Centre's coronavirus COVID-19 red zone data 'erroneous'

The Mamata Banerjee government on Friday wrote a letter to the Centre stating that its assessment of 10 coronavirus COVID-19 red zones in state is 'erroneous'.

Kolkata: The Mamata Banerjee government on Friday wrote a letter to the Centre stating that its assessment of 10 coronavirus COVID-19 red zones in West Bengal is 'erroneous'.

According to Zee Media sources, the letter has been written by West Bengal Principal Secretary (Health) Vivek Kumar to Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan in which he stated that the Health Ministry's assessment of 10 red zones in the state is flawed.

In his letter, Kumar maintained that there are only four red zones: Kolkata, Howrah, North-24 Paraganas and Purba Medinipur.

"With regard to the presentation made in the Cabinet Secretary`s video conference with the states on April 30, 2020, at 3 PM, as many of ten districts of West Bengal were shown in the Red Zone. This is an erroneous assessment," the letter said. 

"Based on the current parameters of Government of India for categorization of areas for COVID-19, the districts in the Red Zone are only four: Kolkata, Howrah, North-24 Paraganas and Purba Medinipur," it said.

In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the Union Health Ministry has classified districts across states and union territories as red, orange and green zones with 130, 284 and 319 such zones respectively across the country as on April 30.

The ministry`s data said there are 10 red zones, 5 orange zones and 8 in green zones in West Bengal.

The lockdown relaxations announced by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) are not applicable in red zones. 

Today is the thirty-eighth day of India’s nationwide lockdown, which has been extended till May 3. The Centre on Wednesday hinted that the ongoing nationwide lockdown is likely to be extended beyond May 3 but many districts will "considerable relaxations" from restrictions.

The nationwide lockdown was first announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 24 in a bid to combat the coronavirus threat. The 21-day lockdown which ended on April 14 was further extended till May 3.