Mysore/Mysuru: Mysuru, which is currently in Red Zone after 90 COVID-19 cases (cumulative) were reported since the outbreak of the virus in the district one-and-a-half-months ago, is now all set to enter into Orange Zone as no new cases have been reported from anywhere in the district since the past 13 days till yesterday.

Of the 90 patients, 86 have been cured and currently only four of them continue to be treated in the designated COVID-19 Hospital on KRS Road where they are said to be  recovering and are likely to be discharged in a couple of days.

The criteria for identification of districts as Red, Orange and Green Zones have been spelt out in the letter dated Apr. 30 issued by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The Green Zones will be districts with either zero confirmed cases till date or, no confirmed case in the last 21 days.

The classification of districts as Red Zones will take into account the total number of active cases, doubling rate of confirmed cases, extent of testing and surveillance feedback from the districts. Those districts, which are neither defined as Red nor Green, shall be classified as Orange Zones.

As per the protocol, any Red Zone district which does not report any fresh positive case in 14 days after the last COVID-19 positive case was reported, can move into Orange Zone, where there are more lockdown relaxations.

With the  possibility of Mysuru entering the Orange Zone becoming a reality, thanks to the untiring efforts of the District Administration, the city can expect more lockdown relaxations in a couple of days.

At present, the business and commercial activities on 91 streets have been banned. In the Orange Zone classification, business activities can resume in these streets. Mysuru can move further to Green Zone if no new cases are reported in 14 days of moving into Orange Zone.

Meanwhile, following some relaxation in travel announced last week, 433 persons from outside the State have returned to the city. They have been sent to facility quarantine. A medical test will be conducted on all of them after 10 days during which their throat swab and blood samples will be sent for laboratory test and anyone who tests positive will be shifted to COVID-19 Hospital.

The District Administration, leaving no chances, has sent throat swab and blood samples of over 1,000 patients being treated at various hospitals, who have shown even mild SARI (Severe Acute Respiratory Illness) symptoms.

Containment Zones

With no new cases being reported in the last 13 days, the city will be free of all Containment Zones by tomorrow (May 14). The authorities had marked 12 areas in city as Containment Zones over a month ago and had sealed off the areas.

Now after 28 days, with no fresh cases reported from these areas, the authorities had revoked 10 Containment Zones on different days including two (Janatanagar and Anikethana road in Kuvempunagar) today (May 13), as per COVID-19 protocol.

Now the city has only two Containment Zones – Nazarbad and J.P. Nagar 20th Cross — and it is most likely that the authorities will lift the Containment Zone tag of these areas too tomorrow, according to MCC Health Officer Dr. D.G. Nagaraju.