West Bengal calls Centre's assessment of 10 red zones in state 'erroneous'

West Bengal Principal Secretary (Health) Vivek Kumar has written to Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan, calling the Centre's assessment of 10 red zones in the state "erroneous".

Kumar said in a letter that there are only four red zones: Kolkata, Howrah, North-24 Paraganas and Purba Medinipur.

"With regard to the presentation made in the Cabinet Secretary's video conference with the states on April 30, 2020 at 3 pm, as many of ten districts of West Bengal were shown in the Red Zone. This is an erroneous assessment," the letter said.

"Based on the current parameters of Government of India for categorization of areas for Covid-19, the districts in the Red Zone are only four: Kolkata, Howrah, North-24 Paraganas and Purba Medinipur," it said.

In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the Health Ministry has classified districts across states and union territories as red, orange and green zones with 130, 284 and 319 such zones respectively across the country as on April 30.

The ministry's data said there are 10 red zones, 5 orange zones and 8 in green zones in West Bengal.

The lockdown relaxations announced by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) are not applicable in red zones.

( With inputs from ANI )