NEW DELHI, April 15 - The Union Health Ministry has declared 170 districts as COVID-19 hotspots and 207 districts as non-hotspots, officials said on Wednesday, reiterating that there has been no community transmission of the disease in the country so far.
Addressing the daily briefing to provide updates on coronavirus situation in the country, joint secretary in the Ministry of Health Lav Agarwal said that states have been asked to classify districts witnessing higher number of cases as hotspots, districts where some cases have been found as non-hotspots, and those which have reported no cases as green zones.
Hotspots are those districts which are reporting more number of cases or where the rate of growth of COVID-19 cases is high, Agarwal said, adding a detailed direction has been issued to states stating consolidated efforts are required to utilise this period of lockdown to curb the spread of the virus.
�As per data till yesterday, 170 districts have been classified as hotspot districts. Non-hotspot districts where cases have been reported are 207 in number,� Agarwal said.
�Cluster containment plan needs to be implemented in those 207 non-hotspots as they can develop as potential hotspots,� the official said.
�There is no community transmission in the country so far. What we are seeing is some local outbreaks and clusters, where cluster and outbreak containment strategies are being adopted,� he said.
The districts which have not reported any cases yet have also been directed to work on cluster containment plans, he said.
In order to break the chain of transmission, focus needs to be on contact tracing, monitoring and clinical management. States have been asked to uniformly implement the containment plan in every district across the country, Agarwal said.
He said the cabinet secretary held a video conference on Wednesday with all chief secretaries, DGPs, health secretaries, collectors, SPs, municipal commissioners and CMOs where hotspots was discussed and orientation on field level implementation of containment strategy was given. � PTI
