Srinagar, June 7: The Jammu and Kashmir government on Sunday declared eight districts in Kashmir and one in Jammu as red zones in view of the recent spike in the number if COVID-19 cases.

An order issued by Chief Secretary J&K, B V R Subrahmanyam declared all Kashmir districts except Ganderbal and Bandipore as red zones. Ganderbal and Bandipore figure in the orange zone list.

In Jammu, Ramban district has been declared as red zone while as Karthia, Samba, Reasi, Udhampur, Poonch, Rajouri and Jammu have been included in the list of Orange Zones.

Doda and Kishtwar are the only districts, which have been declared as Green zones as per the order.

The new categorization of the districts has been made after the latest assessment of the spread of COVID-19 in viewnif the inter-state movement of people in view of the relaxation in the lockdown restrictions.

The categorization will be reviewed periodically by the government.

Pertinently, the J&K government had last month also declared all Kashmir districts except Ganderbal and Bandipore as red zones.

So far 3775 people have been tested positive for the corona virus while as 40 people have died due to the viral disease.

On Saturday alone, there was highest ever spike in COVID19 cases with figures touching 451 mark