In the wake of the Novel Coronavirus disease or COVID-19, the government had imposed a lockdown all over the country till 3rd May 2020.
After a comprehensive review, and in view of the Lockdown measures have led to significant gains in the COVID-19 situation in the country, The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), has issued an Order under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, today, to further extend the Lockdown for a further period of two weeks beyond 4th May 2020. Now the lockdown 3.0 shall continue till 17th May 2020.
The MHA also issued some guidelines for allowing various activities during lockdown 3.0, on the basis of the risk profiling of the districts of India. Accordingly, the districts have been divided into
- Red zone (hotspot)
- Green zone and
- Orange Zones
- Containment Zones
Let us understand in detail what activities shall be allowed in these 4 zones.
1. Activities Allowed in Red, Green & Orange Zone
Given below are the activities allowed in the Red, Green & Orange Zone:-
- Out-Patient Departments (OPDs) and Medical clinics
- 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.
- 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 up to 33% strength as per requirement, with the remaining persons working from home.
- All industrial and construction activities in rural areas, including the 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
- Courier & postal services
- Print and electronic media, IT & IT-enabled services, data and call centers, cold storage and warehousing services, private security and facility management services, and services provided by self-employed persons, except for barbers, etc.
- 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 a maximum of two passengers besides the driver and pillion riding will be allowed on two-wheelers.
- Buses can operate with up to 50% seating capacity and bus depots can operate with up to 50% capacity.
- All cargo vehicles
2. Activities Not Allowed in Any Zone
The movement of individuals, for all nonessential activities, shall remain strictly prohibited between 7 pm to 7 am in all the zones, during the Lockdown 3.0. Besides, several other activities are sealed in all 3 zones during the Lockdown:-
- 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 the public.
However, the movement of persons by air, rail, and road is allowed for specified purposes.
3. Additional Activities Allowed in Orange & Green Zone
The activities allowed in Orange & Green zone are listed below:-
- Plying of cycle rickshaws and auto-rickshaws;
- Running of taxis and cab aggregators;
- Intra-district and inter-district plying of buses; and,
- barbershops, spas, and salons.
Here is a table showing all those activities allowed during the Lockdown 3.0:
Also know: Which activities are restricted during Lockdown?
Containment Zone:
The most sensitive regions of India that are prone to COVID-19 infection, and falling between the Red and Orange Zones, are marked as Containment Zones. These are the regions with a significant risk of the spread of the Coronavirus infection.
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