New Delhi: The centre on Friday extended the India-wide coronavirus lockdown – which was scheduled to end on May 3 – by two weeks. In a press statement, the Ministry of Home Affairs said the lockdown led to “significant gains in the COVID-19 situation in the country”. It issued a fresh set of guidelines to regulate the lockdown, and said it has permitted considerable relaxations in the districts falling in the low-risk Green and Orange zones.
- The use of Aarogya Setu application will be made mandatory for all employees, both public and private. It will be the responsibility of the respective chiefs of organisations to ensure 100 per cent coverage of this application among the employees. Most commercial and private offices can open with upto 33 per cent staff, with the rest working from home. The local authority in containment zones shall ensure full coverage of the app among the residents.
- A limited number of activities will remain prohibited throughout the country, irrespective of the zone. These include travel by air, rail, metro and inter-state movement by road; running of schools, colleges, and other educational and training/ coaching institutions; hospitality services, including hotels and restaurants; places of large public gatherings, such as cinema halls, malls, gymnasiums, sports complexes etc; social, political, cultural and other kinds of gatherings; and, religious places/ places of worship for public. However, movement of persons by air, rail and road is allowed for select purposes, and for purposes as permitted by the government.
- Movement of individuals, for all non-essential activities, shall remain strictly prohibited between 7 pm to 7 am. Local authorities shall issue orders under appropriate provisions of law, such as prohibitory orders [curfew] under Section 144 of CrPC, for this purpose, and ensure strict compliance. In all zones, persons above 65 years of age, persons with co-morbidities, pregnant women, and children below the age of 10 years, shall stay at home, except for meeting essential requirements and for health purposes. Out-Patient Departments (OPDs) to be permitted in all zones.
- In the Red zones, outside the containment zones, certain activities are prohibited in addition to those prohibited throughout the country. These are: plying of cycle rickshaws and auto rickshaws; running of taxis and cab aggregators; intra-district and inter-district plying of buses; and, barber shops and spas.
- Movement of individuals and vehicles is allowed only for permitted activities in Red zones, with a maximum of 2 persons (besides the driver) in four-wheeler vehicles, and with no pillion rider in the case of two-wheelers. Industrial establishments in urban areas, viz., Special Economic Zones (SEZs), Export Oriented Units (EOUs), industrial estates and industrial townships with access control have been permitted.
- The other industrial activities permitted are manufacturing units of essential goods, including drugs, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, their raw material and intermediates; production units, which require continuous process, and their supply chain; manufacturing of IT hardware; jute industry with staggered shifts and social distancing; and, manufacturing units of packaging material.
- Construction activities in urban areas have been limited to in-situ construction (where workers are available on site and no workers are required to be brought in from outside) and construction of renewable energy projects.
- A large number of other activities are allowed in the Red zones. All industrial and construction activities in rural areas, including MNREGA works, food-processing units and brick-kilns are permitted; besides, in rural areas, without distinction to the nature of goods, all shops, except in shopping malls are permitted. All agriculture activities are permitted. Most of the commercial and private establishments have been allowed in the Red zones. These include print and electronic media, IT and IT enabled services, data and call centres, cold storage and warehousing services, private security and facility management services, and services provided by self-employed persons, except for barbers etc., as mentioned earlier.
- In the Orange zones, in addition to activities permitted in Red zone, taxis and cab aggregators will be permitted with one driver and two passenger only. Inter-district movement of individuals and vehicles will be allowed for permitted activities only. In the Green zones, all activities are permitted except the limited number of activities which are prohibited throughout the country, irrespective of the zone. However buses can operate with upto 50% seating capacity, and bus depots can operate with upto 50% capacity.
- Liquor shops will be allowed in green and orange zones (but some state governments may choose to keep it closed). A minimum of six-feet of physical distancing must be maintained and there should not be more than five people at one time at a shop.
