FILE
The urban areas of Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddh Nagar which fall in the Delhi National Capital Region (NCR) have been categorised as 'red zones' for COVID-19 by the Uttar Pradesh government, according to an official order on Thursday.
Amid a nationwide lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Centre had decided to classify all districts into 'red', 'orange' or 'green' zones depending on the severity of the situation.
Different zones have varying levels of restrictions aimed at containing the spread the novel coronavirus, with 'red' being the highly restrictive and 'green' indicating least curbs.
Urban areas of Meerut, Agra and Kanpur have also been categorised as 'red zones', stated the order issued in Lucknow.
Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Amit Mohan Prasad also instructed all district magistrates in the state that districts which do not belong to 'red' or 'green' zones will be categorized in the 'orange zone'.
"The DMs of the districts categorized as 'red zones' are authorized to use their wisdom to take decisions needed to control the coronavirus pandemic," Prasad instructed the DMs, according to an official statement.
Those districts which have not recorded any positive case of coronavirus in last 21 days will automatically get categorised as 'green zone', it added.
