Srinagar
The administration in India-occupied Jammu and Kashmir has decided to treat the entire Kashmir region as well as three districts in Jammu as red zones, or hotspots, to effectively combat coronvirus infections, it emerged on Tuesday.
Earlier, the Indian health ministry had classified only four districts — Srinagar, Bandipora, Anantnag, and Shopian as red zones.
But regional Divisional Commissioner Pandurang Pole told Anadolu Agency that given the spike in the number of cases, there were red zones in every district and infections were not showing any downward trend.
“At this point in time we cannot afford to lower our guard. All the 10 districts of the region will be treated as red zones until further orders,” the official said.
According to an order issued by Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam, districts can be classified into red or orange zones based on their coronavirus situation.
The administration in its order declared the districts of Jammu, Samba and Kathua as red zones, Udhampur, Reasi, Ramban, and Rajouri as orange zones while Doda, Kishtwar, and Poonch were declared as green zones. All the ten districts of the Kashmir region, however, were declared red zones.
India has extended its lockdown until May 17 but lifted some restrictions.
According to NDTV, guidelines issued by the country’s health ministry have permitted intra-district movement in orange zones while delivery services for essential items have also been allowed to resume. Offices are also allowed to resume work but with a limitation of 30 per cent of original work force.
