The Kerala cabinet on Thursday recommended that the central government categorise four districts in the state -- Kasaragod, Kannur, Kozhikode and Malappuram -- as the "red zones" and two others -- Wayanad and Kottayam -- as "green zones" for the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The state cabinet also proposed putting eight other districts in the state under the "orange" category where novel coronavirus infections number less than 10 and the recovery rate is higher.

The decision was taken after the Kerala cabinet held a meeting on Thursday to discuss the Covid-19 situation in the state. The meeting was chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

The cabinet decided to classify Kerala under four zones considering the current epidemiological progression of Covid-19 and further decided to keep the state under high surveillance.

Based on fresh data, the state cabinet has proposed modifying the classification of districts in the state.

There are 167 Covid-19 patients currently undergoing treatment in Kerala. Patients in Kottayam and Idukki districts have recovered completely and no new cases have been reported from these districts in the last one week. Wayanad has one patient recovering from the infection.



The Kerala health department had advised the state government to continue surveillance in Idukki as the district shares a border with Tamil Nadu where the infection level is high in border districts.

The Tamil population in Idukki district has close links with Kambam and Theni districts in Tamil Nadu.



The cabinet said that high surveillance in red category districts should continue for another 15 days to reduce the infection level.

The state government, after consulting with the Union government, will relax lockdown codes in green and orange zones.

The state is also going to mark regions and localities within red, orange and green zones into four categories -- high risk, moderate risk, low risk and minimum risk-based on the epidemiological chart.

Kerala is planning to lift the lockdown in a phased manner and review the measures after April 20.

"We are planning to lift restrictions after reviewing the rate of infection and recovery after following the Union government's policies," a senior government official told India Today.

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