The Centre has indicated that after the Covid-19 lockdown ends on May 3, there will be “considerable relaxations” in many areas.
In a series of tweets, the Union Home Ministry spokesperson said that a comprehensive review meeting was held on the lockdown situation in the country where it was found that there have been tremendous gains and improvement in the Covid-19 situation due to the lockdown till now.
“New guidelines to fight #COVID19 will come into effect from 4th May, which shall give considerable relaxations to many districts. Details regarding this shall be communicated in the days to come,” the home ministry spokesperson tweeted.
However, in the same series of tweets, the MHA spokesperson said that there was a need to maintain a strict lockdown till May 3 so that the gains are not squandered away.
The Centre’s announcement – the first such official indication of what to expect after May 3 – came hours after the government relaxed the norms for migrant movement. The decision on migrants came on the 36th day of the national lockdown, amid hundreds of thousands of migrant workers stranded away from their home or returning home on foot, and demands by states seeking policy clarity.
The MHA, in an order, said that migrant workers, students, tourists, pilgrims and other persons stranded in other states, should be allowed to move, and issued a protocol on how this should be done.
The first guidelines were issued on March 24 immediately after the prime minister announced the lockdown for 21 days.
The guidelines, issued under the Disaster Management Act by the Union Home Secretary, specified the people and services exempted from the lockdown.
On Wednesday, the number of Covid-19 hotspots in India came down to 129 from 170 a fortnight ago, but in the same period the number of infection-free districts or green zones too decreased from 325 to 307.
During this time, the number of non-hotspot districts, also known as orange zones, increased from 207 to 297.
On April 15, the Centre had declared 170 districts across 25 states and Union Territories as coronavirus hotspots or red zones. Of these, 123 were hotspot districts with large outbreaks and 47 with clusters.
The government has already allowed industrial activities in rural areas with conditions. Similarly, apart from the shops for the essential commodities, standalone business establishments of non-essential goods were also allowed to open during the lockdown.
According to the Union Health Ministry, the number of coronavirus cases in the country climbed to 31,787 and the number of fatalities rose to 1,008 on Wednesday, registering a record jump of 71 deaths in 24 hours.
The number of cases too increased by 1,813 between Tuesday and Wednesday.
