Govt reclassifies COVID zones in Jammu & Kashmir

Jammu: In exercise of powers conferred under section 24 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, Chief Secretary, B.V.R. Subrahmanyam, in his capacity as Chairperson of State Executive Committee, today ordered fresh classification of zones in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir on the basis of case reporting and the overall assessment by the Committee for implementation of lockdown with effect from 8th of June 2020.
According to an order issued here today, entire Kashmir Valley excluding Ganderbal and Bandipora districts has been declared as red zone while Ramban district of Jammu Province has been categorized as red zone. Besides, Kathua, Samba, Ganderbal, Bandipora Reasi, Udhampur, Poonch, Rajouri and Jammu districts have been declared as orange zone and Doda and Kishtwar districts have been categorized as Green Zone.
The Lakhanpur Containment Zone on the National Highway, however, will be a Red/Containment Zone with a 500 metre buffer, the order said.
The order reads that a detailed review of the current COVID situation in Jammu and Kashmir was conducted with Financial Commissioner, Health; Divisional Commissioners, Jammu and Kashmir besides other officers particularly on basis of overall assessment of the situation pertaining to the spread of COVID 19 in the UT. The trend in new cases particularly the recent spread/ spike in new cases in view of the continuous movement of stranded/other persons travelling to J&K and between provinces/ districts, and the risk perception of the Health department vis-à-vis each district and the need to control further spread of COVID-19; this categorization of districts into Red, Orange and Green will be followed for the purposes of implementation of permitted activities in the respective districts, as per a separate order, issued by the State Executive Committee.
This classification of districts will be reviewed periodically and any further modifications will be made by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir.