Five districts in Assam as has been identified as novel coronavirus (COVID-19) hotspot districts with cluster by the Union Health Ministry. The districts are: Golaghat, Nalbari, Morigaon, Goalpara and Dhubri.
On the other hand, Lohit in Arunachal Pradesh, 7 districts (Cachar, Hailakandi, Kamrup, Kamrup Metro, Lakhimpur, South Salmara Mancachar and Karimganj) in Assam, East Khasi Hills in Meghalaya, Aizawl in Mizoram, Gomati and North Tripura in Tripura have been categorized as non-hotspot districts reporting cases.
Union health secretary Preeti Sudan on April 15th, 2020 sent a detailed strategy by including names of the hotspot and non-hotspot districts to the states’ chief secretaries.
“States also need to identify hotspots based on the doubling rate of confirmed cases. This exercise of identification of hotspots has to be done on a weekly basis (every Monday) or earlier. Strict containment measures need to be implemented in these hotspots,” the letter said.
The Union Health Ministry also directed the state governments to utilize the extended lockdown period to convert the hotspots (red) to orange and turn green zones.
“States also need to undertake effective surveillance of SARI and ILI cases in districts not having any confirmed cases so far besides ensuring dedicated COVID hospitals. Containment operation would be deemed over when there is no case reported in 28 days from an area after the last case tests negative. Hotspots (designated red zones) will be assumed to be undertaking effective containment activities if no case is reported in next 14 days (designated orange zones) and will be deemed successful in containment if no case is reported for 28 days (designated green zones),” the letter further mentioned.
Hotspot (Red zone) classification has been done to focus attention on districts/cities reporting a large number of cases/high growth rate.
Inclusion Criteria:
- Highest case load districts contributing to more than 80% of cases in India or
« Highest case load districts contributing to more than 80% of cases for each state in India or
- Districts with doubling rate less than 4 days (calculated every Monday for last 7 days, to be determined by the state government)
Subject to the following exclusion criteria
- No new confirmed cases for the last 28 days (Green zone)
List of hotspot districts with large outbreaks
List of hotspot districts with clusters
Non-Hotspots Districts reporting cases
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