EXTENSION OF LOCKDOWN FOR A FURTHER PERIOD OF TWO WEEKS WITH EFFECT FROM MAY 4, 2020.
After a comprehensive review, and in view of the Lockdown
measures having led to significant gains in the COVID-19 situation in the
country, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Government of India (GoI)
issued an Order under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, today, to
further extend the Lockdown for a further period of two weeks beyond
May 4, 2020. MHA also issued new guidelines to regulate different
activities in this period, based on the risk profiling of the districts of the
country into Red (hotspot), Green and Orange Zones. The guidelines
have permitted considerable relaxations in the districts falling in the
Green and Orange Zones.
The criteria for identification of districts as Red, Green and
Orange Zones have been spelt out in detail in the letter dated April 30,
2020, issued by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), GoI.
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 MoHFW with the States and Union Territories (UTs) on a
weekly basis, or earlier, as required. While States and UTs can include
additional districts as Red and Orange Zones, they may not lower the
classification of a district included by MoHFW in the list of Red or
Orange Zones.
A number of districts of the country have, within their boundaries,
one or more Municipal Corporations (MCs). It has been observed that
due to higher population density within the MCs, and consequent greater
inter-mixing of people, the incidence of COVID-19 within the boundary of
the MC(s) is higher than in the rest of the district. In the new guidelines,
therefore, it has been provided that such districts will be classified into
two Zones, i.e., one Zone for the area under the boundary of the MC(s);
and, another for the area falling outside the boundary of the MC(s). If
the area outside the boundary of the MC(s) has reported no case for the
last 21 days, it will be allowed to be classified as one stage lower than
the overall classification of the district as either Red or Orange. Hence,
this area will be classified as Orange, in case the district is overall Red;
or as Green, in case the district is overall Orange. This classification will
enable more economic and other activities in that area of the district,
which is relatively less affected by the incidence of COVID-19, while also
ensuring that due caution continues to be exercised so that these areas
remain free from COVID-19 cases. This dispensation has been made
only in respect of districts having Municipal Corporation (s).
The most sensitive areas of the country, from the spread of
COVID-19 point of view, and 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 containment areas would
be defined by respective District Administrations, taking into account the
total number of active cases, their geographical spread, and the need to
have well demarcated perimeters from the enforcement point of view.
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. Strict perimeter
control would need to be ensured, so that there is no movement of
people in and out of these Zones, except for medical emergencies, and
for maintaining supply of essential goods and services. No other activity
is permitted within the Containment Zones. Under the new guidelines, 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 MHA. The new guidelines also prescribe certain measures for well being
and safety of persons. Hence, 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) and Medical clinics shall be permitted to operate in
Red, Orange and Green Zones, with social distancing norms and other safety precautions; however, these will not be permitted within the
Containment Zones.n 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, spas and saloons.
Certain other activities have been allowed in the Red Zones with
restrictions. Movement of individuals and vehicles is 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. 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. Shops in urban
areas, for non-essential goods, are not allowed in malls, markets and
market complexes. However, all standalone (single) shops,
neighborhood (colony) shops and shops in residential complexes are
permitted to remain open in urban areas, without any distinction of
essential and non-essential. 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.
However, Defense and Security services, Health and Family Welfare,
Police, Prisons, Home Guards, Civil Defence, Fire and Emergency
Services, Disaster management and related services, National
Informatics Centre (NIC), Customs, Food Corporation of India (FCI),
National Cadet Corps (NCC), Nehru Yuvak Kendra (NYK) and Municipal
services shall function without any restrictions; delivery of public services
shall be ensured and necessary staff will be deployed for such purpose. 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, e.g., sowing,
harvesting, procurement and marketing operations in the agricultural
supply chain are permitted. Animal husbandry activities are fully
permitted, including inland and marine fisheries. All plantation activities
are allowed, including their processing and marketing. All health
services (including AYUSH) are to remain functional, including transport
of medical personnel and patients through air ambulances. A large part
of the financial sector remains open, which includes banks, non-banking
finance companies (NBFCs), insurance and capital market activities, and
credit co-operative societies. Operation of homes for children, senior
citizens, destitutes, women and widows etc.; and operation of
Anganwadis has also been permitted. Public utilities, e.g., utilities in power, water, sanitation, waste management, telecommunications and
internet will remain open, and courier and postal services will be allowed
to operate. 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. 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; Jute industry with staggered shifts and social
distancing; and manufacturing of IT hardware and manufacturing units of
packaging material will continue to be permitted. In the Orange Zones, in addition to activities permitted in Red
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.
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. All goods traffic is to be permitted. No State/ UT shall stop the
movement of cargo for cross land-border trade under Treaties with
neighbouring countries. No separate pass of any sort is needed for such movement, which is essential for maintaining the supply chain of goods
and services across the country during the lockdown period. All other activities will be permitted activities, which are not
specifically prohibited, or which are permitted with restrictions in the
various Zones, under these guidelines. However, States/ UTs, based on
their assessment of the situation, and with the primary objective of
keeping the spread of COVID-19 in check, may allow only select
activities from out of the permitted activities, with such restrictions as felt
necessary. No separate/ fresh permissions will be required from authorities for
activities already permitted to operate under the guidelines on Lockdown
measures up to May 3, 2020. The Standard Operating Protocols (SOPs)
issued by MHA will continue to operate such as transit arrangement for
foreign national(s) in India; release of quarantine persons; movement of
stranded labour within States/ UTs; sign-on and sign-off of Indian
seafarers, movement of stranded migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists,
students and other persons by road and rail. State/ UT Governments are mandated to strictly enforce the
lockdown guidelines and they shall not dilute these guidelines issued
under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, in any manner.
