Reportedly there are now only 129 Covid-19 hotspot districts in the country, Union health minister Dr harsh vardhan informed the country on Thursday. He also said that 297 districts have been classified as non-hotspots and 300 remain unaffected from the novel coronavirus outbreak.A lockdown is currently in effect in all 30 states and union territories, a total of 548 districts, Dr harsh vardhan said. He added, "We have three categories-red, orange and green. We are helping the red zones get into the orange zone if they do not have a single case for the next fourteen days and the same for the orange to get into the green zone.

While addressing a live session with non-governmental organizations, Dr harsh vardhan said that india will defeat Covid-19 using all of its forces. A similar statement was issued by the niti aayog on Thursday. Incidentally, while the number of Covid-19 hotspot districts in india has come down to 129 from 170 a fortnight ago, the jarring irony is that number of infection-free districts or green zones decreased from 325 to 307 in that same period. The number of orange zone districts, also known as infected but non-hotspots, has gone up.

In a video conference with chief ministers on monday, prime minister narendra modi mentioned a strategy to enforce guidelines strictly in the hotspots (red zones). He also urged the states to attempt to convert red zones into orange and thereafter to green zones. Union health minister had earlier shared an analysis of the deaths caused in india as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak. While the latest figures put the fatality rate at 3.2 per cent, 65 per cent of the deceased are male and the remaining 35 percent are female. Looking at the age distribution, victims less than 45 years make up for 14 per cent of the casualties, and those between 45 -60 account for 34.8 per cent of the deceased. Meanwhile, 51.2 per cent of Covid-19 casualties in india fall in the category of more than 60 years, whereas 42 per cent belong to the age group of 60-75 years, and 9.2 per cent above 75 years category. At the same time, those with co-morbidities make up for 78 per cent of India's Covid-19 casualties.