Very few green zones as per current methodology: ICMR data

New Delhi: An initial interpretation of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) data by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has found that there are barely any areas which are marked ‘green zones’, or Covid-19 free zones, across the country, officials said.

This adds to the difficulty of planning how the country should exit the current lockdown.

An official said that with the methodology followed, almost no zone would be counted as green. “The interpretation rests on a weighted average of six parameters collected district wise including the number of people older than 65, population density, number of active cases, number of people who came in direct contact with Covid-19 patients and medical facilities…(the data) actually shows even the previously green zones are now pink,” the official explained. (Pink is the least-risk zone.)


However, the official said, since the rapid antibody test results were coming out every few hours, and this data was dynamic, the government would base its eventual decision of lockdown exit based on the recent most data available. “So even within cities, there could be red zones or high-risk zones which would then be containment zones, so this might go even deeper than district,” a second official said.