Lockdown extension: Focus on Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and 9 other cities

• India imposed a national lockdown on March 24 to curb the spread of the virus
• Cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba and state chief secretaries took stock of the situation ahead of the end of the lockdown 4.0

As India entered the final phase of nationwide lockdown, the centre on Thursday explored the strategy to contain the virus spread in the worst-affected areas. India identified 13 cities that had contributed 70% of the total coronavirus cases in the country. With the states registering over 7,000 fresh cases in last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 tally crossed 1.65 lakh-mark today.

These 13 cities were Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Thane, Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Howrah, Indore, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Chengalpattu and Thiruvallur. Cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba and state chief secretaries took stock of the situation in these cities ahead of the end of the lockdown 4.0. The measures taken by the officials and the staff of the municipal corporations for the management of COVID-19 cases were reviewed in the meeting.

India imposed a national lockdown on March 24 to curb the spread of the virus. During the fourth phase of the lockdown, the states were allowed demarcate "red", "orange" and "green" zones in their territories, based on spread of the virus in each area. District-level officials will decide containment and buffer zone boundaries, the centre added. Several norms were relaxed to restart that economy. India resumed domestic flight operations from this week.

The centre on Thursday focused on mapping the containment and buffer zones in the most-affected areas. The central government earlier issued guidelines on management of COVID-19 in urban settlements.

“The central government has stressed that containment zones are to be geographically defined based on factors like mapping of cases and contacts and their geographical dispersion. This would enable in demarcating a well defined perimeter and enforcing the strict protocol of lockdown," the statement said.

“Municipal corporations can decide if residential colonies, mohallas, municipal wards or police-station areas, municipal zones, towns can be designated as containment zones, as required," it said.

The above mentioned cities were advised that the area should be appropriately defined by the district administration and local urban body with technical inputs from local level.

Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant said the central government may extend the ongoing lockdown by 15 days, news agency IANS reported. "I had a telephonic conversation with Amit Shah ji yesterday. It appears that the lockdown in the current state, may continue for 15 more days," Sawant said.

India overtook Turkey and became ninth country to report the most number of coronavirus cases in the world, according to John Hopkins University. Coronavirus claimed 4,659 lives in the country. India's coronavirus death toll topped the number of lives lost in China.

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