City areas with 30 patients in a lakh may be locked down

The national technical advisory committee formed to implement zone-wise lockdowns in the country will propose marking areas in Dhaka with 30 or more Covid-19 cases per 1 lakh people as "red zones."  

The committee will make the proposal to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday, State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossain told The Business Standard. 

"The prime minister will take the final decision on the lockdown," he added.

Almost half of the total coronavirus cases in the country have been reported in Dhaka city alone. Till Saturday, 19,327 people tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Dhaka city. 

According to the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control And Research (IEDCR), twenty areas in Dhaka city with the highest number of Covid-19 cases are - Mirpur (602), Mohakhali (457), Uttara (433), Mugda (428), Mohammadpur (394), Jatrabari (387), Kakrail (300), Dhanmondi (294), Moghbazar (255), Tejgaon (251), Rajarbagh (221), Khilgaon (219), Lalbagh (206), Rampura (197), Badda (195), Malibagh (164), Gulshan (163), Babu Bazar (162), Gendaria (142) and Wari (124) 

In case of areas outside Dhaka, the committee will propose putting a neighbourhood in the red zone if 10 or more coronavirus cases are reported from among one lakh people there. 

The state minister also said that areas with a comparatively lower number of infections will be put in "yellow" or "green" zones. 

As of Saturday, Dhaka division (except the capital city) has the second-most coronavirus cases, followed by Chattogram, Mymensingh, Rangpur, Sylhet, Rajshahi, Khulna and Barishal division. 

District-wise, Chattogram has the highest number (2,875) of Covid-19 cases, followed by Narayanganj (2,460), Dhaka (1,380), Gazipur (1,150), Cumilla (1,173), Munshiganj (980), and Cox's Bazar (969).

The government conditionally lifted the nationwide shutdown on May 31. 

With the public transportation and all government and private offices resuming, Health Minister Zahid Maleque, on June 1, disclosed the decision of dividing the whole country into red, green and yellow zones to control the infection and death rates from Covid-19 more effectively. 

He said the three colour zone classification would be based on the ratio of coronavirus infections in different areas of the country. 

Highly affected areas, marked as the red zones, will be completely locked down for a temporary period. In yellow zones, with comparatively fewer cases, houses of infected patients will be locked down. 

On the other hand, areas with no Covid-19 cases will be marked as green zones. Special initiatives will be taken in the green zones so that no one can enter those areas from outside.