To make the fight against coronavirus more decisive, the Uttar Pradesh government may divide the state into two zones, red and green, depending on the number of COVID-19 cases reported from these regions, and impose restrictions accordingly.
The suggestion was mooted at a meeting that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had with his two deputies Dinesh Sharma and Keshav Prasad Maurya in Lucknow on Sunday.
The probability of lockdown extension and other issues were discussed in the meeting which lasted for around an hour.
A senior official said that the government was going for micro planning to control the spread of coronavirus and therefore it was decided to compartmentalise the state into red and green zones, depending on the COVID-19 cases reported from districts, and restrict movement between the two zones.
“At present, 41 districts have reported coronavirus positive cases and the rest 34 are coronavirus-free. With the division, it would be easy for the district administration to impose restrictions. Vigil could be intensified in districts reporting coronavirus cases and it could be relaxed in coronavirus-free areas,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
The official further said that the district administration may allow industrial production in green zone and give more relaxation to the people while in red zone, restrictions would be imposed strictly but it would be mandatory for the residents to use masks in both zones.
What prompted the state government to go in for stricter norms is the way the number of coronavirus hotspots spiked from 102 a couple of days back to 135 on Sunday. These hotspots account for the bulk of coronavirus cases. Of the 480 cases reported in UP, 342 are from these hotspots only.
“We have done our planning down to the micro level. We know that 15 districts are the problematic ones and therefore movement of vehicles has been restricted and whosoever comes out of their homes will be booked,” he said.
Meanwhile, the government has registered 15,378 FIRs against 48,503 people for violation of lockdown while 485 persons have been booked in 385 FIRs under Essential Commodities Act for black-marketing and hoarding in the state.