Know Why Bhubaneswar Is Still Red Zone; Odisha Govt Issues Criteria For Classification Of Different Zones

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has issued a revised order on lockdown 3.0 in accordance with the Union Home Ministry’s circular.

According to the guideline, which will come into force from May 4, the Health and Family Welfare can include additional districts in Red, Orange and Green Zone, apart from the list of districts in different zones announced every week by the Centre.

Here are the criteria for dividing the districts into three zones—Red, Orange and Green:

Green Zones: Districts with zero confirmed case till date or districts with no confirmed case in the last 21 days will be defined as Green Zones.

Red Zones or Hotspot Districts: Districts will be defined as Red Zones or Hotspot districts, by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of India (Gol), taking into account total number of active cases, doubling rate of confirmed cases, extent of testing and surveillance feedback.

Orange Zones: Districts, which are neither defined as Red nor as Green Zones, will be Orange Zones.

The order further said that the state government and district administration will make an assessment of the distribution of cases within the jurisdiction of municipal corporations and those falling outside its boundaries in districts classified either as Red or Orange Zone.

1. In case the district is classified as a Red Zone, and, there is no confirmed case in the last 21 days in the area of the district outside the limits of the municipal corporation, this area may be labelled as an Orange Zone. However, due caution shall be exercised in such areas so that they remain free from COVID-19 cases.

2. If a district is notified as Orange zone and there is no confirmed case in the last 21 days in the area of the district outside the limits of the municipal corporation, this area may be labelled as a Green Zone. However, due caution shall be exercised in such areas so that they remain free from COVID-19 cases.

3. If any area of the district outside the limits of the municipal corporation does have one or more confirmed case(s) in the last 21 days, this part of the district shall continue to be labelled as a Red or Orange Zone, as per the classification of the district.

4. Place of origin of the cases will be taken into consideration while assessing the classification of a zone and not the place of treatment, the order added.

This order assumes significance as classification of Khurda as Orange zone by the Centre had created doubts about status of Bhubaneswar, which has so far reported 47 corona positive cases with the last case being detected on April 28 after a gap of 14 days. The Twin City Commissioner of Police, Sudhanshu Sarangi, on Sunday had clarified in a tweet that the areas under the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation are still considered as Red Zone.