While extending the lockdown for a period of two more weeks till May 17, the Ministry of Home Affairs has also said that certain restrictions and relaxations will apply depending on where a person lives. Districts have been classified into red zones and green zones and those that cannot be defined as red or green zones will be classified as orange zones. Zones have been classified on the basis of number of active cases, doubling rate of confirmed cases, extent of testing and surveillance feedback from the districts.
Most metropolitan cities including Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru and Hyderabad are classified as red zones, and will continue to have restrictions that have applied to them so far. Movement of individuals for all non-essential activities continues to be prohibited between 7 pm to 7 am.
Regardless of whichever zone one falls under, travel by air, rail, metro and inter-state movement by road remains prohibited, certain exceptions apply here. Schools and educational institutions will continue to remain shut, as will religious places, gyms, hotels, restaurants, cinema halls, malls, etc. are also prohibited.
“In all zones, persons above 65 years of age, persons with co-morbidities, pregnant women, and children below the age of 10 years, shall stay at home, except for meeting essential requirements and for health purposes,” the guidelines state.
Out-Patient Departments and medical clinics shall be permitted to operate in Red, Orange and Green Zones, with social distancing norms and other safety precautions, except in containment zones.
What is prohibited in red zones
> Plying of cycle and autorickshaws
> Taxis and cab aggregators
> intra-district and inter-district plying of buses
> barber shops, spas and saloons
> As announced earlier, shops in urban areas for non-essential goods are not allowed in malls, markets and market complexes.
> Non-essential e-commerce activities
What is allowed
> Movement for permitted activities is allowed. In case of a four wheeler, two people are allowed besides the driver. No pillion rider is allowed on two-wheelers.
> Private offices can operate with upto 33% strength as per requirement, with the remaining persons working from home.
>All standalone shops in the neighbourhood and shops in residential complexes are permitted to remain open in urban areas without any distinction of essential and non-essential.
> Standalone liquor shops will be allowed to open from May 4 but will remain shut in containment zones. Liquor and paan shops inside malls and shopping complexes will not be allowed to operate. However, the MHA has said that social distancing norms will have to be maintained with customers keeping a minimum distance of six feet and not more than five people being present in the store.
> Industrial and construction activities in rural areas, including MNREGA works, food-processing units and brick-kilns
> In rural areas, without distinction to the nature of goods, all shops are allowed except shopping malls
> All agriculture and animal husbandry activities
> Health services to remain functional
> Public utilities, such as power, water, sanitation, waste management, telecommunications and internet will remain open
> Courier and postal services allowed to operate
> Homes for children, senior citizens, destitutes, women and widows will continue to operate
> Industrial establishments in urban areas such as SEZs, Export Oriented Units (EOUs), industrial estates and industrial townships with access control have been permitted.
> Print and electronic media, IT and IT enabled services, data and call centres, cold storage and warehousing services, private security and facility management services, and services provided by self-employed persons, except for barbers is allowed.