The Health Ministry has classified districts across all the states and Union Territories of India as Red, Orange and Green Zones with 130, 284 and 319 such zones respectively, as on 30th April throughout the country.

Due to the growing cases of Coronavirus, The Centre has put all the major four metropolitans – Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai in the Red Zone. Bengaluru (Rural & Urban), Lucknow, Hyderabad, Indore, Ahmedabad, Pune, Nagpur, Bhopal, Patna, Surat are the other major districts under the red zone.

The Health Ministry clarified that if a district has one or more municipal corporations, then the corporation and other areas of the district will be treated as separate units. Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan has written to the Chief Secretaries of all states and UTs outlining the same. She said, “The districts were earlier designated primarily based on the cumulative cases reported and the doubling rate.” 

The latest classification suggests taking broader criteria in the fight against COVID 19. She adds, “A district will be considered green zone if there are no confirmed cases or no reported cases in the last 21 days in the district.” For Red Zones, if there are no reported cases in 21 days, then it will be graded one level lower as an Orange zone district. Due to the continuous rise in the number of cases, there will be high Surveillance in containment and buffer zones.

Assam has the maximum number of green zones at 30 followed by Arunachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, both having 25 green zones each. Madhya Pradesh is next with 24 green zones.

Uttar Pradesh has the maximum number of Red and Orange Zones, 19 & 36 respectively. Maharashtra has 14 red zones; Tamil Nadu has 12 red and 24 Orange Zones.