India Lockdown 5.0 LIVE Updates: Arun, a factory worker, walks with his family to board a bus from Ghaziabad to Kanpur on Saturday. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna)
Lockdown 5.0 Guidelines & Rules LIVE Updates:The Maharashtra government on Sunday extended the Covid-19-induced lockdown till June 30 while announcing easing of restrictions and phase-wise resumption of activities. Calling it “Mission Begin Again”, the government allowed all markets, market areas and shops, except malls, to function from June 5 on odd-even basis even as cases in the state crossed 65,000. This will exclude containment zones.
The Centre plans to unlock all the economic activities in a phased manner, beginning with the opening of restaurants and malls on June 8. Though the lockdown 5.0 will last till June 30, it is only in containment zones. Also, the night curfew hours for areas outside these zones have been revised to 9 pm to 5 am from the earlier 7 pm to 7 am.
The unlock 1.0, however, will play out differently in most states as they have been given the freedom to prohibit certain activities if they deem fit. But they cannot water down the Centre guidelines. On Sunday, a day before lockdown 4.0 expires, Tamil Nadu announced that it would be extending the lockdown till June 30.
And Delhi is also set to allow salons and barber shops to open. The national capital has 122 active containment zone so there will be minimal activity in many parts of the city, with no movement allowed and essential items delivered at doorsteps.
Lockdown 5.0 Guidelines & Rules LIVE Updates: The deserted look of Mumbai iconic monuments like CSMT, Hutatma Chowk, Marine Drive’s Queens Necklace, and Gateway of India. (Express photo by Prashant Nadkar)
Announcing guidelines for Lockdown 5.0, the Rajasthan government on Sunday said that all government offices will work with full strength from June 1 and private offices will be permitted to operate with full strength but they should encourage “work from home”.
The guidelines, issued by Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Rajeeva Swarup, will be in effect from June 1 to June 30 and, as per officials, emphasise “cautious resumption of normalcy through adequate precautionary and safety measures”. Read more here
The state government has announced relaxations in lockdown with effect from Monday and decided to allow shops located outside the containment zones to operate without any restriction of the odd-even formula.
The AMC also declared micro containment zones from new wards other than the 10 containment wards existing. These include Vatva, Indrapuri ward in the south zone; Saijpur, Bapunagar, India colony in the north zone; Viratnagar and Amraiwadi in the east zone, Ghatlodiya, Bodakdev in the north west; Sabarmati, Navrangpura, Nava Vadaj, Naranpura and Paldi in the west and Maktampura and Sarkhej in the south west zones. Read more here
Former Maharashtra Finance Minister and senior BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar has written to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray Sunday seeking a six-month extension for the sarpanches, deputy sarpanches and members of 14,314 gram panchayats across the state, whose tenure have ended, in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the state government should extend the tenure of 14,314 gram panchayats by six months. They can continue to work as a caretaker,” Mugantiwar stated in the letter. Read more here
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said the academic year for schools in the state will commence in June and both offline and online options should be used for it. Thackeray also approved the use of online platforms, such as Google Classroom, for teaching as the country enters the fifth phase of the lockdown amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The academic year must start from June. Schools should be started, wherever possible, with proper healthcare. Education should start even through the online medium,” Thackeray said at a review meeting held with the school education department. Read more here
After news reports of Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh mass-producing the ‘gamcha mask’ sported by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Handloom and Textiles department of Manipur — where the gamcha is a traditional garment – is up in arms.
The department has sought the intervention of the Union Ministry of Textiles, to take necessary steps to ‘immediately stop the production of gamchha face mask in UP’, citing “emotional discontentment” amongst the public, including weavers, in Manipur. Read more here
The Punjab government Sunday issued fresh guidelines for the next phase of lockdown, starting June 1 and allowed the opening of places of worship besides shopping malls, hotels and restaurants from June 8.
The government also allowed the movement of persons till 9 pm. The night curfew will continue for eight hours till 5 am, as per the guidelines issued by the Punjab Home Affairs and Justice Department.
Wearing of mask is mandatory and social distancing is to be ensured and any lapses can attract penalty.
All shops would be allowed to remain open from 7 am to 7 pm and the liquor vends will be opened between 8 am and 8 pm. However, for shops situated in main bazars, market complexes and rehri markets and other crowed places, district authorities can exercise their discretion and in order to avoid crowding can stagger the opening of shop. Barber shops, hair cutting salons, beauty parlours will also be allowed to open between 7 am to 7 pm.
In line with the Centre’s guidelines, the state government has prohibited opening of cinema halls, gymnasiums, swimming pools, entertainment parks, theatres, auditoriums, assembly halls and similar places till June 30. Bars, schools, colleges and educational institutions will not be allowed to open in Unlock 1.0.
The central government and private offices will be allowed to open as per required strength without any restrictions except that compliance of social distancing and wearing of masks at all times, shall be ensured. The timings may be adjusted to work in small teams to ensure strict compliance of these restrictions, the guidelines have directed.
All the Punjab government offices would remain open as per required strength. However, head of the office will ensure that there is adequate space for maintaining social distancing norms. If the space is inadequate, the employe es will be required to attend office by rotation.
After keeping its borders shut with the National Capital Territory of Delhi for over two weeks, Haryana Sunday lifted the restrictions, opening its borders with Delhi. There shall be free moment of people between Haryana and Delhi from Monday 9 am onwards.
Even while cases continue to rise in Delhi’s border districts of Gurgaon, Faridabad and Sonipat, the Haryana government today adhered to union government’s guidelines and lifted all restrictions, permitting "free movement of inter-state travel of individuals and goods".
Regarding religious places, hotels and restaurants, the state has decided that “with effect from June 8, 2020 activities will be allowed in religious places, hotels, restaurants and other hospitality services and shopping malls in accordance with the SOPs which will be decided later by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare”.
Sources in the government confirmed to the The Indian Express that restrictions have been lifted on Delhi's borders. “There shall be no restrictions on travel of individuals between Delhi and any part of Haryana from Monday morning. For the last about two weeks, nobody from Delhi was allowed unless the person was on essential service duty or possessed a curfew-pass approved by state’s home department. From Monday, all such restrictions have now been lifted. However, the restrictions shall continue in the containment zones”, a senior government functionary told The Indian Express.
In Haryana’s four districts that share borders with Delhi, there are 75 containment zones in Gurgaon, 59 in Faridabad, 27 in Jhajjar and 80 containment zones in Sonipat district.
The decision was taken in a late evening meeting chaired by chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar and attended by Deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala and home-cum-health minister Anil Vij. Various top bureaucrats of the state government also attended the meeting.
The UP government on Sunday allowed interstate travel but left it to the district administrations of Ghaziabad and Noida to take a call on the movement of people from adjoining New Delhi. In guidelines on the next phase of the coronavirus lockdown, Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary R K Tiwari said, “There is no ban on interstate and intra-state movement by persons or goods.”
The order added that there is no need for a separate approval or an e-permit for this. But at the same time, the order said there will be a ban on the movement of people from the containment areas in Delhi to the NCR areas of Gautam Buddh Nagar and Ghaziabad. Later in the evening, it was announced that Noida-Delhi borders would remain sealed. The decision was taken by the administration after consulting with health and police departments.
The Rajasthan government on Sunday allowed full attendance in government and private sectors but continued the ban on opening religious places, hotels and malls in the next phase of the lockdown, starting on June 1 and lasting till June 30. In its fresh guidelines issued at the end of the fourth phase of lockdown, the state government also allowed private and commercial transport vehicle to carry passengers up to their full capacity, but no more.
The Ashok Gehlot government also allowed interstate and intrastate operation of buses, while providing that the buses would ply within the state only on permitted routes and outside containment zones. The city buses, however, were yet not allowed to ply.
The guidelines said there would be no restriction on interstate and intrastate movement of people and goods and no separate pass, permission, approval or permit would be required for that. Government offices will start functioning with full capacity from June 1, said the new guidelines.
Karnataka extends lockdown till June 30. Prohibited activities outside containment zones will continue to reopen in a phased manner.
Telangana govt extends lockdown in identified containment zones till June 30 and has also lifted restrictions on inter-state movement of people.
Maharashtra government has named the extension of lockdow till June 30 as 'Mission Begin Again' In Maharashtra, markets and shops, except malls, wil be allowed to function from June 5, while private offices can operate with up to 10 per cent strength from June 8, officials told PTI. Maharashtra government makes it clear that easing of curbs and phase-wise opening will exclude COVID-19 containment zones.
After Ministry of Home Affairs' guidelines, timings for prohibition of movement of individuals, for all non essential activities has been revised by Chandigarh administration from 9 pm to 5 am with immediate effect from June 1.
News agency ANI reported that the guidelines on lockdown measures will remain applicable in Karnataka till June 30. Also, all religious places and places of worship for public; hotels, restaurants and other hospitality services; and shopping malls; will be permitted to open from June 8.
Trains and flights are expecte to arrive in Goa in large numbers from June 1 as the fift phase of the coronavirus-induced lockdown brings with it greater rolling back of restrictions, officials said o Sunday. Konkan Railway public relations officer Baban Ghatg said three trains originating from Delhi and Mumbai will hal at Madgaon station in south Goa from June 1, and so woul Mangala Express (New Delhi to Ernakulum), Netravati Expres (LTT-Mumbai to Thiruvananthapuram) and Duronto Expres (Nizamuddin to Ernakulum).
The state health department had set up facilitie required to test passengers in view of the virus outbreak, he added. The New Delhi-Vasco Goa Express will also start it regular trip from June 1. As per Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), anyon arriving in Goa will have to either carry COVID-19 negativ certificate from an ICMR-certified lab or get himself teste for the infection here. The state government has announced a repatriatio flight from Dubai to Goa on Monday bringing in Indians fro the Middle East. Dixon Vaz, founder president of Goa Seamen Associatio of India, said two flights of Srilankan Airlines carrying 20 Indians working on different ships abroad are scheduled t land at Goa airport on Monday.
"These people were stranded in Colombo for long. Thei flight was cancelled thrice and finally they got a go ahead At least 7-10 repatriation flights with Indians, especiall Goans, from places like London are waiting for the nod t arrive in Goa. Some 800 Goans working on different ships hav already arrived," he added. (PTI)
The West Bengal government on Saturday extended the Covid-19 lockdown till June 15, but eased more curbs a day after announcing the first round of relaxations. The government said the lockdown would continue in containment zones, but activities would be restarted in other areas.
The government announced that indoor and outdoor activities such as TV and cinema production — barring reality shows, but including those meant for OTT platforms — would be allowed in non-containment areas from June 1, with maximum 35 people per unit at a time. Shopping malls, restaurants, and hotels can reopen in these places from June 8.
According to the fresh orders, the Chandigarh administration is all set to open hotels, restaurants, religious places, and malls in the first phase of opening the nationwide lockdown, from June 8 onwards, as per the guidelines issued by the Government of India. People will also be allowed to venture out from from 5 am to 9 pm, from June 1 onwards.
While the Centre has allowed shops and businesses outside containment zones to resume from June 1 onwards, Maharashtra is unlikely to allow economic and other activities to resume in one go in Mumbai and other red zones, even outside designated containment zones. Keen to avoid a new flare-up of cases, the state has plans to permit standalone shops to remain open only on two or three days of the week for now. As part of the state’s soon-to-be released revised lockdown guidelines, sources said that people will be advised to restrict shopping to neighbourhood shops and avoid travelling to distant market places.
The fourth phase of the coronavirus-triggered lockdown, which began on May 18, saw 85,974 COVID-19 cases till 8 am on Sunday, which is nearly half of the total cases reported in the country so far. Lockdown 4.0, which will end on May 31 midnight, has accounted for 47.20 per cent of the total coronavirus infection cases, number-crunching from the Union Health Ministry data reveals.
The lockdown, which was first clamped on March 25 and spanned for 21 days, had registered 10,877 cases, while the second phase of the curbs that began on April 15 and stretched for 19 days till May 3, saw 31,094 cases. The third phase of the lockdown that was in effect for 14 days ending on May 17, recorded 53,636 cases till 8 am of May 18. India is the ninth worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic as of now. (PTI)