Lockdown 4.0 to remain in force till May 31; States to identify red, orange and green zones

New Delhi, May 17: The Centre on Sunday allowed states to designate Red, Orange, Green Zones for their respective regions. This was a key demand of the states during last week's meeting between Chief Ministers and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Under the new guidelines, States and Union Territories (UTs) will now categorize Red, Green and Orange zones taking into consideration the parameters shared by the Health Ministry.

The zones can be a district, or a municipal corporation/ municipality or even smaller administrative units such as sub-divisions, etc, as decided by States and UTs.

Inside the red/ orange zones, containment and buffer zones will be identified by the district administration/ local urban bodies with technical inputs at local level and by taking into consideration the Health Ministry guidelines.

Within the containment zones, strict perimeter control shall be maintained, and no movement of persons would be allowed, except for medical emergencies and for maintaining supply of essential goods and services.

Buffer zones are areas around each containment zone, where new cases are more likely to appear. In the buffer zones, more caution needs to be exercised.

Prohibition on all public gatherings, closure of schools, malls and restaurants, and suspension of flight and Metro services will remain in force till May 31 as the government on Sunday extended the ongoing countrywide lockdown to combat the COVID-19 spread.

The Union home ministry issued a nine-page guidelines listing the dos and don'ts during the lockdown 4.0 that has been clamped in the country to cut the chain of coronavirus infection.

The guidelines came soon after the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) extended the national lockdown beyond Sunday till May-end.

It said all domestic, international air travel of passengers, except domestic air ambulance, will remain prohibited.

Metro rail services, schools, colleges will remain closed till May end, the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said.

Hotels, restaurants, cinema halls, malls, swimming pools, gyms will also remain shut even as all social, political, religious functions, and places of worship will be closed till May 31, it said.

The MHA said inter-state movement of passenger vehicles, buses will be allowed with mutual consent of states involved during the COVID-19 lockdown 4.0.

States and Union Territories have been given the powers for delineation of Red, Green and Orange Zones as per COVID-19 situation, the MHA said.

All shops, except those in containment zones and malls, will be allowed to open from Monday with staggered timings during lockdown 4.0, it said.

The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 2,872 and the number of total positive cases climbed to 90,927 Sunday morning.