Early Times Report
Jammu, May 29: Five districts were placed in the ''red category'' as the Jammu and Kashmir State Executive Committee (SEC) on Saturday came out with a fresh classification of the districts effective from May 31 for Covid containment in the union territory.
Pulwama and Anantnag in south Kashmir, and Baramulla and Kupwara in north and Budgam in central Kashmir have been put in the ''red zone'' along with the areas on either side of the Jawahar Tunnel, the gateway to the valley, an order issued by Chief Secretary B V R Subrahmanyam said.
Lakhanpur containment zone on the Jammu-Pathankot highway with a buffer of 500 meter radius has also been categorised in the red zone. Lakhanpur in Kathua district of Jammu province serves as the gateway to the union territory bordering Punjab.
The summer capital Srinagar, which had remained in the red zone throughout this month amid a spike in COVID-19, has been placed in the ''orange category'' along with Shopian, Ganderbal, Kulgam and Bandipora in the valley, besides all the 10 districts of Jammu province. No area has been placed in the ''green category''. Jammu and Kashmir, which has been under Covid curfew for the past one month, on Saturday recorded 2,253 fresh cases, which took the tally to 2,86,684, while 46 deaths in the past 24 hours pushed the toll 3,841 in the union territory, officials said.
The fresh categorisation of the districts followed a detailed review of the current Covid situation pertaining to the spread of the infection, trend in new cases, particularly the test positivity rate, the risk perception of the health department viz-a-viz each district and the need to control further the spread of COVID-19, Subrahmanyam, who is also the chairman of the SEC was quoted as saying in the order.
The order said the categorisations of the districts into red, orange and green zones would be followed for the purpose of implementation of permitted activities in the respective districts, according to a separate order to be issued by the SEC.
It said the total number of cases, test positivity rate, vaccination status of target population and compliance with Covid appropriate behaviour would be monitored and will be the basis for relaxing restrictions in future. "The classification of the districts will be reviewed periodically and any further modification will be made by the government of Jammu and Kashmir," the order read. |
