The third phase of lockdown with considerable relaxations kicked in on Monday as the Coronavirus cases continue to rise in the country.
Lockdown curbs in several areas falling under orange and green zones have been eased in a major relief for the people.
However, businesses and movement of people in containment spots and red zones will remain prohibited.
In orange zones, in addition to the activities prohibited throughout the country, inter-district and intra-district plying of buses remains prohibited, except for permitted or essential activities. However, taxis and cab aggregators are permitted, with one driver and two passengers only.
In green zones or areas with no COVID-19 cases, one can drive with a passenger in a car or ride a two-wheeler without pillion from 7 am to 7 pm. Only emergency and essential services will be allowed to move beyond these hours.
Some states including Delhi have allowed liquor sales by standalone shops as against those that operate out of market areas, provided there is strict social distancing and all other safety guidelines are followed.
The Government on Friday announced the extension of lockdown for two more weeks beyond May 3. This is the third consecutive lockdown after March 25 due to the novel Coronavirus.
This time, the lockdown has come when most of the areas are segregated into red, orange and green zones, a step introduced by the government weeks ago to identify the most, medium and least/zero affected areas respectively.
As per the Government order, in all the zones, persons who are 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.
Travel by air, rail, metro and inter-state movement by road remains prohibited. Schools, colleges, coaching institutions; hotels and restaurants; places of public gatherings like cinema halls, malls, gyms, sports complexes and religious places will remaoin shut during the lockdown period in all states across India.
Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said that the state government will allow all the red zone relaxations in the city from Monday while the lockdown will be continued.
The national capital is ready to “reopen” and people “have to be ready to live with coronavirus,” the chief minister said.
In Delhi, stationery shops, standalone and neighbourhood shops and residential lane shops for both essential and non-essential services can be open. Also, self-employed people like technicians, plumbers, electricians and household help will be allowed to begin work.
Most of the commercial and private establishments have been allowed in Delhi — print and electronic media, IT and IT enabled services, data and call centres, cold storage and warehousing services, private security and facility management services.
Services provided by self-employed persons — electrician, plumber, lift technician, A/C mechanic, vehicle mechanic, generator mechanic, TV mechanic, Dish TV/ Cable/ CCTV mechanic, Computer and Internet service provider, opticians, private security guards/ supervisors, gas service, CNG pipeline technicians, sanitation workers, domestic helps/ maids, laundry and press-wala — are permitted along with shops related to raw material of self-employed persons and in-situ construction activities.
Private offices have been allowed to operate with upto 33 per cent strength as per requirement. All government offices under non-essential category will function with senior officers of the level of Deputy Secretary and above at full strength, and the remaining staff attending upto 33 per cent as per the requirement
Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has asked people to observe the extended two-week lockdown “in letter and spirit”. “We are on the path of success and we will win this war against COVID-19,” he told reporters on Sunday evening.
The Health Ministry last Thursday finalised the list of containment zones and divided the states and districts into different categories according to the COVID-19 situation in these areas. The list will help the Centre devise a lockdown exit plan post May 3.
As per the list, 130 districts fall under the Red Zones, 284 in the Orange Zones and 319 in Green Zones.
After consulting the state governments and the chief secretaries of the states, the health ministry has decided to put all metro cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, in the Red Zone. The Red Zone cities also include Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad.
All districts of Delhi have been included in the Red Zone category. Maharashtra, the most affected state, has the highest number of Red Zones – 14 districts – among all states.
In Tamil Nadu, 12 districts fall under the Red Zones, 19 in Uttar Pradesh, 10 in West Bengal while nine each in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. Rajasthan has eight Red Zones.
Assam has 30 Green Zone districts, the highest.
In a report released by the Government, the number of COVID-19 hotspots, or “red zones”, across India reduced from from 170 on April 15 to 130 on April 30, seen as a major achievement due to the lockdown.
However, a matter of concern is that the number of “green zones”, or districts which report no new cases in the past 21 days, have decreased from 356 to 319.
Also, “orange zones”, where no new Coronavirus case is reported in the past 14 days, have increased from 207 to 284.