170 COVID-19 hotspot districts, 207 in danger, says Govt, adds next 2-3 weeks most crucial for India

Of the total number, 10,197 are active cases while 392 people have died.

As per the latest update from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, 1,344 people have recovered from the disease, which is 11.41 per cent recovery rate.

Addressing a press conference, Union Health Minister Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said the next 2-3 weeks are going to be the most crucial in handling the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in India.

He said India is among the first countries in the world to have responded to the news of the first Coronavirus case being diagnosed in China on January 7 adding that the government started working the next day in an expert group meeting. “On January 17, we issued health advisories,” Harsh Vardhan said.

The health minister said the Government has been successful in pin-pointing where the virus is, while adding that there are around 400 districts in India where Coronavirus has not entered.

The government had earlier identified 170 districts as COVID-19 hotspots and 207 districts as potential hotspots. Hotspots are those districts which are reporting more number of cases or where the rate of growth of COVID-19 cases is high.

Speaking on state-wise performance, Harsh Vardhan said Bihar isn’t as badly affected by the Coronavirus pandemic as Maharashtra and Karnataka.

“Bihar isn’t in so much trouble right now, but definitely, Maharashtra is in a bit of trouble, particularly Mumbai, and also Karnataka. But I was happy to see confidence of three chief secretaries and more particularly when Maharashtra CS said with confidence ‘we’ll take care of it’,” he said.

Meanwhile, Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal in his daily briefing on the COVID-19 situation earlier on Wednesday, said that the districts of the country will be classified into 3 categories – hotspot districts, non-hotspot districts but where cases are being reported and green zone districts with no infections.

Districts where cases are being reported but are not hotspots need to work proactively, initiate containment strategies, the health official said.

Agarwal said the Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba held a video conference today with all chief secretaries, DGPs, health secretaries, Collectors, SPs, Municipal Commissioners and CMOs where hotspots were discussed and orientation on field-level implementation of containment strategy was given.

The Health ministry has said restrictions will continue to apply on hot zones for the next 28 days till all the patients are recovered and no new patients have been detected. In rural areas, the hotspots will have a 3 km radius. And for buffer zones (orange zones) it will be 7 km.

The states have also been asked to report on the rate the virus is spreading — doubling or increase in cases — and on basis of this, the list of hot spots will be revised. “This is a continuous and rolling exercise,” Agarwal said.

The health ministry has further reiterated that there is no ‘community transmission’ in India so far. and added that there have been some local outbreaks.

Meanwhile, on the origin of Coronavirus and its transmission Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) head scientist R Gangakhedkar has made the observation that the virus might have originated due to mutation in bats. Bats might have transmitted it to pangolins and from pangolins it got transmitted to humans.

He said that, as per a surveillance conducted, there were two types of bats found to have carried Coronavirus but were not capable of affecting humans. Gangakhedkar added it is so rare that maybe once in 1000 years the virus gets transmitted from bats to humans.