Lockdown Extended Till June 30; Hotels To Re-open From June 8

NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Saturday issued an order to extend the nationwide lockdown in containment zones till June 30, and also ordered to re-open prohibited activities in a phased manner in areas outside the containment zones from June 8 onwards.

It also said that all those activities will be resumed in accordance with the Standard Operating Procedures prescribed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The district authorities are asked to demarcate containment zones, and only essential activities will be allowed in these areas. As was prevalent in the earlier orders, contact tracing, and other clinical interventions will be undertaken in the areas.

The guidelines issued for Lockdown 5.0 are categorised into three phases.

In Phase I, the activities allowed from June 8 are: Religious places of worship; hotels, restaurants and other hospitality services; shopping malls.

All are asked to maintain physical distancing to contain COVID-19 spread.

In Phase II, all educational institutions will be opened after consultation with states or union territories, who may in turn also hold consultations with parents and other stakeholders. Based on the feedback, decision will be taken in July.

In Phase III, after assessing situation, these activities will be allowed: International air travel, metro rail, cinema halls, gyms, swimming pools, theatres, bars, auditoriums, etc., and also social or political gatherings or other large congregations.

The national directive for COVID-19 management must be followed across the country, the order read.

The night curfew remains from 9 pm-5 am from the earlier 7 pm-7am, and anyone found violating will be booked under Section 144 of the CrPC.

Restrictions on inter-state and intra-state movement of persons and goods have been removed, and no separate permission or approval or e-permit will be required anymore.

Movement of goods or cargoes for cross border trade under treaties with neighbouring countries shall also not be stopped.

All elderly persons, children below 10 years are advised to stay homes.

The government has also insisted on using the Aarogya Setu app that enables early identification of potential risk of infection and employers are also asked to ask their employees to install the app on best effort basis.

Any person found violating the measures will be booked under Section 51 to 60 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, besides legal action under Section 188 of the IPC and other such legal provisions.

Below are the highlights of the MHA order about ‘Lockdown 5.0’:

• Nationwide lockdown extended in all containment zones until June 30
• Re-opening of activities outside containment zones in phased manner
• In Phase I, all places of worship to be allowed to re-open from June 8
• Hotels, restaurants, other hospitality services to resume from June 8
• Shopping malls will also be allowed to resume business from June 8
• In phase II, re-opening of schools, colleges, educational/training institutions will be considered after consultations with states, UTs
• Decision on this will be taken in the month of July
• In phase III, dates for resumption of International air travel, Metro Rail, cinema halls, gyms, swimming pools, entertainment parks, theatres, bars, auditoriums, assembly halls will be decided
• Similarly, decision on social/political/sports/entertainment and religious functions, large congregations will be taken around the same time