New Delhi, Apr 15 (IANS): Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan on Wednesday wrote to chief secretaries of states and Union terrirtories, asking them to divide their states and UTs into two sections -- hotspot and non-hotspot areas.

"As of now, based on reported cases, the districts can be classified as: Hotspots, Non-Hotspots, districts reporting cases and districts which have not reported positive cases," she wrote.

States also need to identify hotspots based on doubling rate of confirmed cases. The exercise of identification of hotspots, she says, has to be done on a weekly basis, every Monday. She has advised strict containment plans for such clusters.

The Health Secretary has made a strong pitch for ensuring dedicated COVID hospitals in every district, even if the district hasn't seen any positive cases.

Segregating areas into three zones, she said, "Containment operation would be deemed over when there is no case reported in 28 days from an area after the last case tests negative. Hotspots (designated red zones) will be assumed to be undertaking effective containment activities, if no case is reported in the next 14 days (designated orange zones) and will be deemed successful in containment, if no case is repofted for 28 days (designated green zones).

The Centre strongly urged the states and UTs to use this extended lockdown to ensure the Coronavirus doesn't spread any further and is adequately dealt with.

As of Wednesday, India has 10,197 active COVID-19 cases and 392 deaths.