Centre extends lockdown in containment zones till July 31; Unlock 2 guidelines issued

Extending the existing Coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown, the Ministry of Home Affairs on Monday, issued an order that lockdown on containment zones will continue till July 31. The guidelines of 'Unlock 2' prohibits opening of educational institutions, international air travel, metro rail, cinema halls, bars, auditoriums, swimming pools, gymnasiums, and large congregations. The MHA has shortened the night curfew timing from 10 PM to 5 AM and stated national directives for COVID management still apply.

Lockdown extended till July 31 : Unlock-2

According to the new guidelines, the dates to restart above-mentioned activities will be decided separately and SOPs will be issued for their safe commencement. Moreover, domestic flights which are already functioning at 30% capacity will be expanded in a gradual manner. Inter and Intra-state travel including those for cross-border trade will continue without restrictions. The Centre has also allowed movement via passenger trains, Shramik special trains, domestuc passenger air travel and Indians stranded abroad and has advised the usage of Aarogya Setu App for early detection of COVID-19.

States extend lockdown

Prior to the Centre's lockdown extension - West Bengal, Maharashtra, Manipur, Nagaland, Jharkhand, Mizoram and Tamil Nadu extended lockdown in their respective states. Most state governments have stated the further relaxations will be allowed in the next phase. Assam has imposed lockdown in Guwahati, Telanagana is mulling to re-impose lockdown in Hyderabad, Karanataka has imposed Sunday lockdown from July 5.

Unlock-1

On May 30, Centre announced that the nationwide- Coronavirus lockdown has been extended in containment zones till June 30, 2020. The Centre also announced that the re-opening of the areas outside containment zones will be done in three phases, while night curfew timings were amended to 9:00 PM to 5 AM throughout the nation, except for essential services. India's active cases stand at 2,10,120, recovered cases at 3,21,723 with 16,475 fatalities.

Previous Lockdowns

The Centre had first imposed a complete lockdown on March 25 for three weeks till April 15. It was then extended till April 30. On May 1, when the lockdown was re-imposed till May 15, the MHA eased restrictions flagging off Shramik trains and announcing an Aatma Nibhar Bharat package, to revive the economy. With more extensions, MHA then allowed the delineation of red, green and orange zones as per state and UT governments, taking the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) into consideration - with most states then coming up with their own guidelines.