Ongole: 16 mandals in Prakasam district declared red zones

Ongole: Prakasam District Collector Pola Bhaskara on Sunday declared red, orange and green mandals in the district for resuming limited operations and permitting activities with effect from April 20.

Following the orders of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, the State government suggested that the Collector consider mandal as an administrative unit for the purposes of effective containment and phased withdrawal of lockdown.'

As per the instructions by the government, the Collector notified 16 mandals, such as Ongole, Chirala, Kandukur, Markapur, Chimakurthi, Kanigiri, Giddaluru, Addanki, Darsi, Donakonda, Konakanamitla, Podili, Korisapadu, J Panguluru, Gudluru and Santhanuthalapadu as red zones and three mandals, such as Karemchedu, Parchur and Vetapalem as orange zones while the remaining 37 mandals as green zones in the district.

The Collector announced that the red zones would be converted into orange zones and orange zones into green zones if no new case is reported in the last 14 days. He said that strict containment measures as prescribed by the MoHFW would continue in the red and orange zones until they turn into green zones.

He informed that no inter-district or inter-mandal movement would be allowed, except for medical needs and emergencies like the death of close family members.