KALIMPONG, DARJEELING AND JALPAIGURI IN RED ZONE.

KalimNews, 30 April 2020, Kalimpong: Kalimpong and Darjeeling districts are included in the Red zone along with 8 other districts of the state. 

In a fresh circular issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare dated 30 April 2020, 10 districts of West Bengal are updated into Red and 5 into Orange zones while 8 into green zone.
Altogether 130 districts have been put under Red zone, 284 under Orange zone and 319 districts under Green zone, according to the list shared by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The 10 districts in the Red zones are Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri, Kolkata, Howrah, 24 Pargana North, 24 Pargana South, Medinipur East, Medinipur West and Malda.

5 districts of Orange zones are Hoogly, Nadia, Pashchim Bardaman, Purva Bardhaman and Murshidabad.

8 Green zones include all the rest of the districts including Alipurduar, Coochbehar, Jhargram, Purulia, Dakshin Dinajpur, Uttar Dinajpur, Birbhum, Bankura etc.

Multiple factors were taken into account including incidence of cases, doubling rate, extent of testing and surveillance among others to divide the districts under the Red and Orange zones. The government has also said that the list of districts will be updated on the weekly basis and changes will be communicated to the states. 
A circular issued by the Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Preety Sudan vide memo no.DO No Z28015/19/2020-EMR dated 30-02-2020 states that the circular is with reference to the video conference chaired by the Cabinet Secretary on 30 April 2020 with the Chief Secretaries and Secretary Health of the states. It writes- "It is important to ensure that we identify pockets of critical interventions for a focused management of Covid 19 at the field level." 

It adds "The districts were earlier designated as hotspots / red zones, orange zones and green zones primarily based on the cumulative cases reported and the doubling rate. 

Since recovery rates have gone up, the districts are now being designated across various zones duly broad-basing the criteria. This classification is multi-factorial and takes into consideration incidence of ceses, doubling rate, extent of testing and surveillance feedback to classify the districts. A district will be considered under Green zone, if there are no confirmed cases so far or there is no reported case since last 21 days in the district."

"Some states have raised issues on inclusion of certain districts in red-zone, I would like to highlight that this is a dynamic list. The list will be revised on a weekly basis or earlier and communicated to states for further follow-up action in consonance with the directions issued by Ministry of Home Affairs under the Disaster Management Act, 2OO5. The list of the districts as per above classification is attached herwith in Annexure."

"It is further highlighted that based on field feedback and additional analysis at state level, states may designate additional red or orange zones as appropriate. However, States may not relax the zonal classification of districts classified as red/orange as communicated by the Ministry."

"For the districts having one or more municipal corporations, the corporations and other areas of districts may be treated as separate units. If one or more of these units have reported no cases for last 21 days, they can be considered as one level lower in zonal classification, in case the district is in Red/Orange Zone, Distrtict authorities should, however, exercise due caution in such areas so that these areas remain free from COVID 19 cases."

"It is critical to ensure that necessary action for containment so as to break the chain of transmission of virus is initiated in both red and orange zone districts reporting confirmed cases.

The containment zones in these districts delineated based on 

• Mapping of cases and contacts 
• Geographical dispersion of cases and contacts
• Area with demarcated perimeter
• Enforceability

Depending on the above factors for urban areas - residential colonies/ mohallas/municipal wards or police station area/ municipal zones/ towns etc. as appropriate can be designated as containment zones.Similarly for rural areas village /Clusters of village, or group of police stations /gram panchayats/ blocks etc as appropriate can be designated as containment zone. The area should be appropriately defined by the district adminstration /local urban body with technical inputs from local level. In the Spirit of effective containment, it is advisable to err on the side of caution. Further, a buffer zone around containment zone has to be demarcated."

"Necessaey action should then be initiated in these areas as part of the Containment Action Plans alrealy communicated including-

• Stringent perimeter control

          o  Establishing clear entry and exit points
          o  No movement except for medical emergencies and essential goods and services
          o  No unchecked influx of population
          o  People transiting to be recorded and followed through IDSP

• Active search for cases through house to house surveillance by special teams formed for the purpose
• Testing of all cases as per sampling guidelines
• Contact tracing 
• Clinical management of all confirmed cases

Similarly, in buffer zones, extensive surveillance for cases, through monitoring of ILI/SARI cases in health facilities has to be taken up."

"All States are accordingly requested to delineate the containment zones and buffer zones in the identified red and orange zone districts and notify the same.

Looking forwardly for your continued leadership for management of Covid 19 at the state level."