The Central Technical Group on Zoning System for Covid-19 has found that 25 to 30% of the examined areas fall under the red zone.
The member secretary of the group Dr Mohammad Jahirul Karim said: “While examining the most affected areas in the country, we have found that some 25 to 30% areas are falling under red zones.”
For the first level of implementation, the Central Technical Group has taken Dhaka and Chittagong city, Narayanganj, Gazipur and Narsingdi under its consideration.
Several media houses have published lists terming them as finalized or recommended for red zones. The reports said the National Technical Advisory Committee for fighting Covid-19 on Saturday recommended placing 64 areas – including 45 under Dhaka city corporations – in the “red zone” category to prevent further transmission.
However, the member secretary said: “We have not published any lists as it is yet to be prepared. We do not know from where they received the lists.”
Such misleading and half done reports are creating an adverse impact among people, that is leading toward other problems as well.
“People are getting panicked and confused,” he added.
An announcement will be made soon after finalizing the lists including the name of the red zone areas or clusters he said adding that the Directorate General of Health Services is currently working hard on the issue.
Dr Jahirul, also the program manager (Lymphatic Filariasis and STH) in DGHS said, it’s a complex procedure. The list keeps updating each day as its main criteria is to identify the number of confirmed cases in an area for the last 14 preceding days.
“We will also keep an eye on the areas where the number of infections have been doubled or multiplied in the last 14 preceding days,” the DGHS official said.
Besides, the list published in the media contains the name of macro or larger areas; but it would be very difficult to implement zone wise lockdown while maintaining livelihood and economy, and providing treatment and civic amenities.
So, they are now identifying the micro areas or smaller areas so that it cannot affect all the areas, he added.
"Simply, we want to make effective plans based on small areas," the official explained.
The Health Ministry has not yet finalized the names of any areas, he said, adding that it would be implemented through an inter-ministerial approach.
“The prevention plan will be implemented by local administrations after it [red zone] is declared,” he said.
A notification was issued by the government on Monday night declaring that all red zones (whenever the list is disclosed) will be under general holiday and the current restriction on public movement from 8pm to 6am will remain in effect.
People considered these directives to be a declaration of red zones. However, the notification did not announce the name of any particular area.
