INDIA: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), on Wednesday, released fresh guidelines for the COVID-19 lockdown, which has been extended till May 3. Additional public activities will be allowed from April 20, like agriculture, horticulture activities and procurement of the same. The guidelines mandate closing of some Central, state government offices, commercial, private establishments, industrial establishments and all transport services. The guideline also mandates the appointment of incident commanders responsible for the overall implementation of these measures.
Indian Government is all set to bring up new guidelines on lockdown 2.0. In Union Cabinet Ministers’ meeting which is scheduled at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg, has announce new detailed guidelines on lockdown which has been extended till 3rd May. The strict guidelines are imposed till 20 April, as per sources. However in his address to the nation, Prime Minister Modi on Tuesday hinted that some conditional curbs could be reviewed after 20th April.
Some important points of lockdown 2.0 new guideline.
1. Offices under the Central government, its autonomous/ subordinate offices and public corporations will remain closed, with the exceptions of defence, central armed police forces, treasury, public utilities (including petroleum, CNG, LPG, PNG), power generation and transmission units and post offices. Others like Customs, Reserve Bank of India and RBI-regulated financial markets and entities like NPCI, CCIL will operate with minimum staff.
2. Offices under the state/ union territory governments will remain closed with the exceptions of police, home guards, civil defence, fire and emergency services, disaster management, and prisons, electricity, water, sanitation, municipal bodies.
3. Hospitals, veterinary hospitals and all related medical establishments, including their manufacturing and distribution units, both in public and private sector, such as dispensaries, chemist, pharmacies (including Jan Aushadhi Kendra) and medical equipment shops, laboratories, pharmaceutical research labs, clinics, nursing homes, ambulance etc. will continue to remain functional.
4. From April 20, additional activities will be allowed “to mitigate hardship on the public”. Farming operations, procurement activities and mandis organised by the state will be operational.
5. From April 20, pharmaceutical research activities and manufacturing of drugs, medical devices will be operational.
6. Inter-state, inter-district movement of people, metro, bus services continue to be prohibited till May 3
7. Cinema halls, malls, shopping complexes, gymnasiums, sports complexes, swimming pools, bars to remain closed till May 3.
8. Commercial and private establishments shall be closed down, with the exceptions of shops, including ration shops (under PDS), dealing with food, groceries, fruits and vegetables, dairy and milk booths, meat and fish, animal fodder, fertilisers, seeds and pesticides.
9. Banks, insurance offices, and ATMs including IT vendors for banking operations, print and electronic media can function, along with the delivery of all essential goods including food, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment through e-commerce.
10. Industrial establishments will remain closed with the exceptions of manufacturing units of essential goods, medical devices, their raw materials.
11. All transport services—air, rail, roadways—will remain suspended with the exceptions of transportation for essential goods, fire, law and order and emergency services, operations of Railways, Airports and Seaports for cargo movement, relief and evacuation and their related operational organisations.
12. Taxis and cab aggregators will be prohibited.
13. All educational, training, research, coaching institutions etc. shall remain closed.
14. All places of worship shall be closed for public. No religious congregations will be permitted, without any exception.
15. All social/ political/ sports/ entertainment/ academic/ cultural/ religious functions / gatherings will be barred.
16. Gathering at Funerals, will be monitored and regulated by the District Magistrate.
17. A strict ban has been imposed on the sale of tobacco, gutka and liquor during the lockdown period. Spitting has been made a punishable offence.
18. The government has allowed industries functioning in rural areas, that is outside municipal areas, to resume operations from April 30 but with strict social distancing norms
19. Manufacturing and industrial establishments functioning in Special Economic Zones (SEZ) and Export Oriented Units (EOU), industrial estates and industrial townships have been allowed to resume operations after April 20
20. Wearing of face cover is compulsory in all public places, workplaces. Spitting in public places shall be punishable with fine.