New Delhi: After a comprehensive review of Covid-19 situation in the country, the Ministry of Home Affairs today decided to extend the lockdown further for a period of two more weeks beyond, with effect from May 4.
The MHA has also issued certain guidelines to regulate activities in this period, specifically based on the risk profiling of districts. Today morning, all districts were put under 3 categories – Red zone (hotspot), Green & Orange zones.
Restrictions will be in place in red zones while the other two – Green & Orange zones will have considerable relaxations.
Criteria for categorization in 3 Zones:
# The Green Zones will be districts with either zero confirmed cases till date; or, no confirmed case in the last 21 days.
# The classification of districts as Red Zones will take into account the total number of active cases, doubling rate of confirmed cases, extent of testing and surveillance feedback from the districts.
# Those districts, which are neither defined as Red nor Green, shall be classified as Orange zones.
# The classification of districts into Red, Green and Orange Zones will be shared by Ministry of Health with States/UTs weekly or may be in less time.
Understanding Containment Zones & Restrictions in these areas:
# The most sensitive areas of the country, falling within the Red and Orange Zones are designated as Containment Zones. These are areas where there is significant risk of spread of the infection.
# The local authority shall ensure 100% coverage of Aarogya Setu app among the residents of the Containment Zone. Containment Zones would have intensified surveillance protocols, with contact tracing, house to house surveillance, home/ institutional quarantining of persons based on their risk assessment, and clinical management.
# NO movement of people would be allowed in and out of these Zones, except for medical emergencies, and for maintaining supply of essential goods and services.
What remained banned in All Zones in Lockdown 3.0?
# Certain 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.
# Movement of persons by air, rail and road will be allowed for select purposes, and for purposes as permitted by MHA.
# Movement of individuals in all zones, for all non-essential activities, shall remain strictly prohibited between 7 pm to 7 am.
# 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.
# OPDs & Clinics can operate in Red, Orange and Green Zones, with social distancing norms and other safety precautions. They will not be permitted within the Containment Zones.
RED ZONE: What remains closed, what will open
# These are prohibited in red zones – Plying of cycle rickshaws and auto rickshaws; running of taxis and cab aggregators; intra-district and inter-district plying of buses; and, barber shops, spas and saloons.
# Vehicles allowed only for permitted activities, with a maximum of 2 persons (besides the driver) in four-wheeler vehicles, and with no pillion rider in the case of two-wheelers.
# Special Economic Zones (SEZs), Export Oriented Units (EOUs), industrial estates and industrial townships with access control have been permitted.
# 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)
# Shops in urban areas, for non-essential goods, are not allowed in malls, markets and market complexes. However, shops in colonies and residential complexes have been permitted.
# E-Commerce activities, in the Red Zones, are permitted only in respect of essential goods.
# Private offices can operate with upto 33% strength as per requirement, with the remaining persons working from home.
# All Government offices shall function with senior officers of the level of Deputy Secretary and above at full strength, and the remaining staff attending upto 33% as per requirement.
# Most of commercial and private establishments have been allowed in the Red Zones.
# These can open – 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.
ORANGE ZONE
# Taxis and cab aggregators will be permitted with 1 driver and 1 passenger only.
# Inter-district movement of individuals and vehicles will be allowed for permitted activities only.
# Four wheeler vehicles will have maximum two passengers besides the driver and pillion riding will be allowed on two-wheelers.
GREEN ZONE
# Almost all activities are permitted in the Green zone.
# Buses can operate with upto 50% seating capacity and bus depots can operate with upto 50% capacity.
# All goods traffic is to be permitted.
# No separate pass needed for movement of cargo