Even as the Union ministry of health moved Ghaziabad district from the highly restrictive Red Zone (hot spot) to the comparatively relaxed Orange Zone, district health department officials said that the situation is dynamic and can change in case more cases come up. The officials said that the rate of testing should be sped up in order to check the exact number of cases present in the district.
On Friday, Ghaziabad reported five fresh cases, taking the total to 71.
According to the central government guidelines, districts with high load of coronavirus cases or which have a high growth rate of the disease are classified under the Red Zone. On Friday, while extending the lockdown that started on March 25 for two more weeks, the Union ministry of home affairs said that the state government could demarcate additional areas as Red or Orange Zones, but could not lower the classification as noted by the Centre.
According to a communication from the Union health secretary, Preeti Sudan, to all the chief secretaries of states and Union Territories, all the states will have to delineate the containment areas and buffer zones in the identified Red and Orange zones and notify the same.
According to the list, the state of Uttar Pradesh has 19 Red zones, 36 Orange and 20 Green Zones including Gautam Budh Nagar under Red zone and Ghaziabad now moving to the Orange zone.
{{/usCountry}}According to the list, the state of Uttar Pradesh has 19 Red zones, 36 Orange and 20 Green Zones including Gautam Budh Nagar under Red zone and Ghaziabad now moving to the Orange zone.
{{/usCountry}}“Ghaziabad moving to Orange Zone is still a temporary phase and we need to focus more on sampling and speedy testing. We have the capacity to take up about 400-500 samples per day with the help of 40 lab technicians with us. But testing needs to speed up as we are getting test reports in 2-3 days from Meerut and there is also long delay in getting reports from Noida. We have reports which are pending since April 21,” chief medical officer Dr NK Gupta, said.
According to official records till Friday, the Ghaziabad district has a list of 3012 samples sent for testing while about 484 were pending. On the other hand Noida has sent 3618 samples till Friday.
“The focus should be on tracing more cases to get the exact picture so that proper surveillance and containment can be taken up,” Gupta said.
To move to the Green Zone (with no cases), Ghaziabad will have to keep the momentum it is on, while at the same time increasing sampling, surveillance and containment.
“Ghaziabad moving to Orange Zone is a dynamic situation and it can change if more cases come in. The labs were limited when coronavirus outbreak happened and now more testing labs are added. If test pendency is more than a week then the purpose of sampling gets defeated. The state government is making efforts to increase testing. We also need to curb floating population and lot will also depend on nearby areas like Delhi,” said Dr AK Paliwal - state program manager from National Health Mission (UP).
On April 15, the Union health ministry designated districts as Red, Orange or Green zones based on cumulative cases reported and also their doubling rate.According to the latest list, the districts have been designated across the various zones by broad-basing the criteria.
“The classification is multi-factorial and takes into consideration incidence of cases, doubling rate, extent of testing and surveillance etc. The doubling of positive cases in Ghaziabad is estimated to be in two weeks which is higher than the national average of about 11.2 days at present. The district’s peak was reached when cases related to Tablighi Jamaat came to light. Since then we have 2-3 cases coming in,” Dr Paliwal added.
District magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey said that he was awaiting directions from the state government after the Centre on Friday evening decided to extend ongoing countrywide lockdown for two more weeks.
“The district moving from Red Zone to Orange Zone is a thin line. But we are focussed on getting more samples tested. Our patients who got discharged from hospitals is more than the total number of active cases. We are also putting curbs and checks on inter-city movement of commuters in order to prevent medically acquired infection. Our efforts are on and we are trying our best to move to Green zone,” Pandey added.
The Ministry officials in their communication added that for district having one or more municipal-corporations, the areas under these bodies and other areas of the 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. District authorities should, however, exercise due caution in such areas so that these areas remain free from Covid-19 cases,” the letter said.