FAQ: I Live In One of 170 Hotspots in India – What Should I Know?

If you’re living in these hotspots, what does it mean for you? And what’s a hotspot anyway?

If you’re living in these hotspots, what does it mean for you?

(Photo: Aroop Mishra/The Quint)

The Union Health Ministry has declared 170 districts in 25 states as COVID-19 hotspots and 207 districts in 27 states as non-hotspots, while reiterating that there has been no community transmission of the disease in the country so far.

If you're living in these hotspots, what does it mean for you? Here are some answers for such FAQs.

What does the government mean by COVID-19 hotspot?

‘Hotspots’ are areas of large COVID-19 outbreaks — or clusters with significant spread of the virus as per the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW). A district is classified as a ‘hotspot’ if a district:

• Contributes to more than 80% of cases in lndia or
• Contributes to more than 80% of cases for each state or
• Districts with doubling rate in less than 4 days (calculated every Monday by states)
• If there is no confirmed case for the last 28 days, the district is declared a green zone

Has my district been declared as a COVID-19 hotspot?

• Delhi: South, South East, Shahdara, West, North, Central, New Delhi, East and South West
• Andhra Pradesh: Kurnool, Guntur, Spsr Nellore, Prakasam, Krishna, YSR, West Godavari, Chittoor, Vishakhapatnam, East Godavari and Anantapur
• Maharashtra: Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Nagpur, Sangli, Ahmednagar, Yavatmal, Aurangabad, Buldhana, Mumbai Suburban, Nashik
• Chandigarh
• Gujarat: Ahmadabad, Surat, Bhavnagar, Rajkot, Vadodara
• Karnataka: Belagavi, Mysuru, Bengaluru Urban
• Kerala: Kasaragod, Ernakulam, Pathanamthitta, Thiruvananthapuram
• Madhya Pradesh: Indore, Bhopal, Ujjain
• Punjab: Jalandhar, Pathankot
• West Bengal: Kolkata, Howrah, 24 Paraganas North, Medinipur East
• Rajasthan: Jaipur, Tonk, Jodhpur, Banswara, Kota, Jhunjhunu, Jaisalmer, Bhilwara, Bikaner, Jhalawar, Bharatpur
• Tamil Nadu: Chennai, Tiruchirappalli, Coimbatore, Tirunelveli, Erode, Vellore, Dindigul, Villupuram, Tiruppur, Theni, Namakkal, Chengalpattu, Madurai, Tuticorin, Karur, Virudhunagar, Kanniyakumari, Cuddalore, Thiruvallur, Thiruvarur, Salem, Nagapattinam
• Uttar Pradesh: Agra, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Meerut, Lucknow, Ghaziabad, Saharanpur, Shamli, Firozabad, Moradabad

I live in a ‘hotspot’, does it mean I cannot move out of my house?

Not necessarily. Each ‘hotspot’ will further be divided into containment zones.

A containment zone is generally divided into sectors with a maximum of 50 houses each.

“In these containment zones..there shall be strict perimeter control in the area of the containment zones to ensure that there is no unchecked inward/outward movement of population from these zones except for maintaining essential services (including medical emergencies and law and order related duties) and government business continuity,” they said.

Will there be some relaxation of lockdown in containment zone post 20 April?

No, the “select activities and services” which will be allowed in parts of the country post 20 April will not be applicable to containment zones.

However, in parts of the ‘hotspot’ district which are not containment zones, these select activities will be allowed.

How do I know if my locality or street is a containment zone?

Containment zones are expected to be demarcated by states/union territories and district administration. More clarity is expected on this by 20 April. Watch this space for more details.

I live in a locality which has been declared as a containment region. What do I need to know?

Here are the things you need to keep in mind if you live in a sealed region, according to Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary RK Tiwari. Similar rules apply to sealed zones in Delhi and Mumbai as well:

• In all hotspots, there will be 100 percent home delivery of essential items. This means groceries and vegetables.
• No one apart from health department officials and those delivering these essential items will be allowed to step out.
• Strict patrolling will take place.
• Homes will be scanned and sanitised in these hotspots.
• Curfew passes which have been distributed will be reviewed. If found that these are not being used for delivery of essential services, they will be revoked.

There are also some rules for things you cannot do if you live in a a sealed locality.

• You can’t leave the locality, as all the entry and exit points are sealed and barricaded.
• You can’t visit banks or ATMs.
• Assembling in groups inside the sealed locality is also not allowed.

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