‘Restrictions Needed’: Home Ministry Asks States, UTs Extend COVID Containment Measures Till June 30

New Delhi: After reviewing the coronavirus situation in the country, the Unio Ministry of Home Affairs on Thursday evening asked the states and UTs to extend the Covid containment measures as outlined by the ministry of health and family welfare till June 30.  Along with this, the home ministry also extended the nationwide Covid-19 restrictions. Issuing an order, the Home Ministry said that the restrictions are necessary to keep a check on the spread of the infection.

“The strict implementation of containment and other measures has led to a declining trend in the number of new and active cases, across States & UTs, barring some areas in the Southern and North-Eastern regions,” the order by Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla said.

“I would like to highlight that in spite of the declining trend, the number of active cases presently is still very high. It is, therefore, important that containment measures may continue to be implemented strictly. Any relaxation by States/UTs, may be considered at an appropriate time, in a graded manner, after assessing the local situation, requirements and resources,” the order further said.

Copy of the order from MHA: 

In the order, the Home Ministry also states to work on strategy to bring down the number of Covid-19 cases.

The Home Ministry on April 29 had also directed the states and Union territories to go for intensive and local containment measures in districts with a high number of Covid-19 cases to check the spread of the viral disease.

Earlier in the day, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said that there is a steady decline in new COVID-19 cases in India for the last 20 days, with 24 states witnessing a dip in active cases since the last week. It also noted that the country is on a downswing of the second wave of COVID-19.

The ministry also said that while COVID-19 testing has increased manifold, a steady decline in weekly COVID-19 positivity rate has been seen since the last three weeks.

The Centre also termed a recent report by the New York Times (NYT) on the estimated COVID-19 death toll in India as completely baseless and false . The NYT report is not backed by any evidence and based on distorted estimates, it added.