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Over 12,000 coronavirus infections have been reported in India so far. Cases of the deadly virus refuse to come down, keeping India on alert, also forcing an extension of the nationwide lockdown further till May 3. India has charted out an entire containment strategy in this regard, starting from identification of hotspots and their categorisation into Red, Orange and Green Zones. The strategic approach of the government broadly involves defining the area of operation, applying perimeter control, delineating containment and buffer zones, active search for cases, contact tracing, quarantine, clinical management, and awareness generation among public. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health has declared 170 districts in the country as "hotspots" and 207 as "non-hotspots." Here's an explainer on India's containment strategy to fight coronavirus.
HOTSPOTS- CLUSTERS AND LARGE OUTBREAKS
- Localised increase in the incidence of COVID-19 cases occurring within a defined geographic area. E.g., in a village, town, or city.
- Cases may not be epidemiologically linked
- More than 15 cases
- Implies progression of a small cluster of evolvement of multiple clusters
- Less than 15 cases in a limited area
- Cases are epidemiologically linked
HOTSPOTS
- Highest case load districts contributing to more than 80 percent of cases in India or
- Highest case load districts contributing to more than 80 percent 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)
- No new confirmed cases for last 28 days (GREEN ZONE)
A LOOK AT THE CURRENT STATUS
Current Status Of India's Containment Zones (As of April 14, 2020)
STRATEGIC APPROACH FOR CONTAINMENT OF CORONAVIRUS
- Geographic area mapped for cases and contacts for defining the area of operation
- If data for mapping is not readily available in:
- Rural areas: 3 km radius of containment zone and additional 7 km radius of buffer zone
- Urban areas: Administrative boundaries of residential colony and a buffer zone of additional 5km radius
B. LARGE OUTBREAKS
- Geographic area mapped for cases and contacts for defining the area of operation
- If data for mapping is not readily available in:
-Rural areas: Block/Sub district/district population with buffer zone of all neighbouring block/sub district/district
-Urban areas:
- Containment Zone: Entire population of towns and for large cities, zones/districts from where cases are reported
- Buffer Zone: Neighbouring urban/rural districts
The area should be appropriately defined by the district administration/local urban body with technical inputs at local level and it would be appropriate to err on the higher side.
- Perimeter of mapped cluster, facilitated by existing geographic boundaries - like roads, rivers etc.
- Establish clear entry and exit points
- Only 1 or 2 arterial roads into containment zone will be kept open for essential services
- All roads connecting the containment zone will be guarded by police/volunteers
- No unchecked outward movement except for essential services
- No unchecked influx of population into the containment zone
- All vehicular movement, public transport and personnel movement will be restricted.
- Details of people moving out of perimeter will be recorded and followed up with IDSP
The perimeter control operations for the clusters and large outbreaks remain the same except for the enhanced scale of arrangements for large outbreaks.
BUFFER AND CONTAINMENT ZONE
Buffer and Containment Zone
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