3 PUNJAB. 2 HARYANA DISTRICTS AMONG 130 RED ZONES IN COUNTRY

CHANDIGARH : Three districts from Punjab, two in Haryana are among the 130 districts declared as red zones by the Union ministry of health and family welfare (MOHFW) on Thursday.

Jalandhar, Patiala and Ludhiana are the three of the 22 districts which have been listed among the red zones from Punjab on the day the state saw its sharpest spike in positive cases in the past 24 hours. The Centre, according to a letter sent by secretary, MOHFW, Preeti Sudan, has also declared 284 districts as orange zones and another 319 as green zones in the country. Ropar, Fatehgarh Sahib, Bathinda and Fazilka in Punjab have been declared as green zones and the remaining 15 are orange zones. Chandigarh continues to be on the list of red zones.

In the previous list of hotspots released on April 15, four districts – SAS Nagar, Jalandhar, Pathankot and SBS Nagar - were identified as red zones with large outbreaks. In Haryana, Sonepat and Faridabad have been classified as red zones whereas Rewari and Mahendragarh are green zones.

The remaining 18 districts have been categorised as orange zones.

“The districts were earlier designated as hotspots/ red zones, orange zones and green zones primarily based on 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 multifactoral and takes into consideration incidence of cases, doubling rate, extent of testing and surveillance, feedback to classify the districts,” Sudan wrote to chief secretaries.