Amethi reports first case of COVID-19, declared orange zone

Uttar Pradesh's Amethi was declared an orange zone on Tuesday after a woman with a travel history to Ajmer tested positive for COVID-19, becoming the district's first case of the disease, officials said.

Till now, Amethi was a green zone, they said.

District Magistrate (DM) Arun Kumar said Amethi's Musafirkhana area, where the woman lives, has been sealed after she tested positive for COVID-19.

The woman returned to Amethi from Ajmer on May 1 with 27 other people. She has been admitted to a hospital at Kurwar in Musafirkhana. The other people who came with her have been quarantined at the A H Inter College in the area, he said.

According to the officials, Amethi has been declared an orange zone as a precautionary measure.

The authorities have sent the samples of all 28 people for testing.

Till now, samples of seven people have tested negative for coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, Kumar said.

Reports of the remaining 20 samples are awaited, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr R M Srivasatava said.

The Union home ministry has divided districts in the country into red, orange and green zones based on COVID-19 risk profiling to regulate activities during the nationwide lockdown, which has been extended for another two weeks till May 17.