Several actions have been taken by Government of India along with the States/UTs for prevention, containment and management of COVID-19, through a graded, pre-emptive and pro-active approach. These are regularly being reviewed and monitored at the highest level, according to official release.
All the districts of the country have been divided into green, orange and red zone. State/UTs and district administration through focused efforts are required to ensure that the districts where cases have come up i.e. red and orange zones can break the chain of transmission through effective and stringent containment measures, the Ministry said.
Containment zones should be delineated duly taking into account mapping of cases & contacts; geographical dispersion of cases & contacts; areas with a well-demarcated perimeter; and enforceability, it said.
States/UTs are also advised that containment zones can be residential colony/mohallas/municipal wards or police station area/ municipal zones/towns etc. in urban areas as appropriate. In case of rural areas, zones can be village/clusters of village or group of police stations/ gram panchayats/block etc. as appropriate.
States/UTs also need to clearly demarcate the buffer zones and containment zones. In containment zones, stringent perimeter control, active search for cases through the house to house surveillance by special teams formed for the purpose, testing of all cases as per sampling guidelines, contact tracing and clinical management of all confirmed cases need to be done while in case of buffer zones, extensive surveillance for cases through monitoring ILI/SARI cases in health facilities needs to be done, it added.
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued an order to allow the movement of migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students and other persons, stranded at different places across the country, by special trains to be operated by Ministry of Railways (MoR).
Railways Ministry will issue detailed guidelines for sale of tickets; for social distancing and other safety measures to be observed at train stations, train platforms and within the trains.
India’s death toll due to the coronavirus pandemic has risen to 1,152, with a total of 35,365 cases across the country. There are 25,148 active cases while 9,064 people have been cured/discharged, according to Health Ministry website.
