Lockdown extended by two more weeks

New Delhi, May 01: The lockdown has been extended by two more weeks, the Ministry Home Affairs has said.

The MHA said that the lockdown has been extended by two more weeks beyond May 4.

This decision was taken after a comprehensive review and in view of the lockdown measures having significant gains in the COVID-19 situation.

A limited number of activities will remain prohibited across India, irrespective of the zone, including travel by air, rail, metro and inter-state movement by road, running of schools and colleges and other educational and training and coaching institutions.

In red zones, outside containment zones, certain activities are prohibited in addition to those prohibited throughout India. These are plying of cycle rickshaws and auto rickshaws; taxis and cab aggregators; intra-district and inter-district plying of buses and barber shops, spas and salons.

The MHA said it issued new guidelines to regulate different activities in this period based on the risk profiling of the districts of the country into Red, Green and Orange Zones. The guidelines have permitted significant relaxations in the districts falling in the Green and Orange areas, the MHA said.

The criteria for identification of districts as Red, Green and Orange zones have been spelt out in detail in the letter dated April 30 issued by the Health Ministry. The classification of districts into Red, Green and Orange Zones will be shared by the Health Ministry with the states and ITs on a weekly basis or as required. States and UTs can include additional districts as Red and Orange Zones. However they may not lower the classification of a district included by the Health Ministry in the list of Red or Orange Zones, the Home Ministry also said in its order.