India has embraced another fortnight of Lockdown starting May 4, while the country is classified into Green, Orange, and Red Zones to determine the high-risk and low-risk areas of virus spread.
This will be phase 3 of Lockdown, which will get extended the second time on May 3, 40 days after the country initiated the nationwide lockdown on March 24. India jumped up by 2,293 cases in the last 24 hours only, with the country’s total coronavirus cases amounting to 37,336 on May 2, 2020. The total numbers of reported deaths are 1,218.
Read: Mysterious Story of First Death from Coronavirus in India
While the lockdown gets extended for another 14 days, the classification of the states and cities into the three zones will determine the relaxations to be given in the next phase of curbs. In order to redeem the plunging Indian economy, the government has put in place certain relaxations amid the lockdown, starting May 4.
The cities identified as Red zones, which means the hotspots, detected with maximum and recent cases, will also be leveraged with certain relaxations, but only in areas except for the sealed containment zones. Currently, the worst-hit states in India are Maharashtra, Delhi & Bengal having the maximum Red Zone Districts.
Air, Railways, and Buses remain Suspended in Lockdown; Green zone to ply buses at 50%
While the national transit system i.e. rail and air services will remain suspended till May 17, the green zone areas will resume bus services partially at 50%. The green zones, which have not seen a single case in 21 days, and the orange zone, designated as places with no new cases in 14 days will return to near-normalcy activities between 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. while barring all “non-essential” work from 7 p.m. to7 a.m. The government has implied that private offices and businesses in all three zones will be able to resume operations, with the condition of 33% of the actual workforce present in the office. The offices will, however, seek further seek specific directives from the concerned authorities of the center or state.
The government has instructed that schools, colleges, gymnasiums, restaurants, and malls will remain closed along with places of worship, and also continued the barring of any religious or cultural congregations anywhere in the country. Taxi’s, Auto’s, and personal means of transport will be allowed to run on the roads with specified instructions as given by the concerned area’s authorities.
India’s Lockdown has helped the fight against COVID-19
The Ministry of Home Affairs on Friday announced the 2-week extension in view of the persistent coronavirus situation in the country. They justified the existing lockdown has been fruitful to contain the spread so far and therefore it will continue with some easing of restrictions. However, the respective states can impose further restrictions in addition to the present ones, but cannot dilute the norms specified by the Centre.
The lockdown in India has not only doomed the economy but put at the chaos the lives of millions of migrant laborers in the country. The lockdown made these migrants either end up in shelter homes, or walk hundreds of miles to their native places with no money or food. Many governments have also arranged for the transition of the migrants in various places to their homes.
The Government has also mandated for all public and private officials to use the ‘Aarogya Setu’ App on their phone. The government has launched an app to track the coronavirus spread in the country and also helps determine any COVID-19 positive person in the vicinity of the App user.
