West Bengal Govt Writes to Centre Over 'Erroneous' Assessment of Red Zones in State

The West Bengal government on Friday wrote to the Centre emphasising that there are four red zones in the state and not 10, as mentioned in the list presented during a video conference of the Cabinet Secretary with representatives of states.

Principal secretary of the state health department Bibek Kumar in his letter to the secretary of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare termed the list "an erroneous assessment", and said Bengal, keeping in view the parameters set by the Centre, has earmarked four red zones -- Kolkata, Howrah, North 24 Parganas and Purba Medinipur.

Kumar, in the letter, also enclosed a "correct classification of the state's districts and areas in the red, orange and green zones".

Bengal currently has eight districts in the green zone and 11 in the orange zone, he said.

The Union Health Ministry has listed 130 districts across the country in the red zone, 284 in orange zone and 319 in green zones, based on incidence of cases of COVID-19, doubling rate, the extent of testing and surveillance feedback.

According to the ministry, West Bengal has 10 districts in the red zone -- Kolkata, Howrah, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, West Midnapore, East Midnapore, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Kalimpong and Malda.

This classification of districts announced at a video conference chaired by the Cabinet Secretary on April 30 with the chief secretaries and health secretaries, will have to be followed by states and Union Territories for a week post May 3 for containment operations.