Very strong containment measures will be implemented in hotspot districts: Govt

Very strong containment measures will be implemented in the hotspot districts accounting for a large number of COVID-19 cases or those with fast growth of such cases, the government said on Wednesday.

All health services, including AYUSH, hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, telemedicine facilities, dispensaries, chemists, pharmacies as well as all kinds of medicine shops, Jan Aushadhi Kendras and medical equipment shops, will remain functional, according to the new guidelines issued by the Centre a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the extension of the nationwide lockdown till May 3.

"Very strong containment measures will be implemented in the hotspot districts accounting for a large number of COVID-19 cases or with fast growth of cases," a government statement on the guidelines said.

"Only essential services are to be permitted in these zones and strict perimeter control and strict restrictions on movement enforced," it said.

"Hotspots'' -- areas of large COVID-19 outbreaks -- or clusters with significant spread of COVID-19 will be determined as per the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW), the guidelines said.

Later, the health ministry declared 170 districts hotspots and identified 207 as non-hotspots.

In the hotspots, containment zones will be demarcated by states/union territories/district administration as per the guidelines of the health ministry, it said.

"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.

The guidelines stated that medical laboratories and collection centres, pharmaceutical and medical research labs, institutions carrying out COVID-19 related research, veterinary hospitals, dispensaries, clinics, pathology labs and sale and supply of vaccine and medicine will remain operational.