New Delhi: Restrictions will be eased in non-containment areas from April 20, the government said on Sunday.
“From 20th April onward, restrictions will be eased in non-containment areas, but containment areas in hotspots districts will not be given any relaxation,” said Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, at the daily press briefing.
Hotspots are the areas with large Covid-19 outbreaks or clusters with a significant spread. Within hotspots, local administration demarcates containment zones and buffer zones to control disease spread.
“For places where selective relaxations are granted, administrators must ensure that strict compliance of existing lockdown measures is done and preparatory actions related to social distancing are being followed in offices, workplaces, factories and establishments,” he added.
Within containment zones, activities shall not be permitted within a strict perimeter control except for essential services, Agarwal added.
As this is a rolling criteria, if cases are reported from some other places, then these places can also become part of the red zone and containment zone. For the containment zones, they should strictly implement lockdown measures so they can gradually return to normalcy.
The Centre on Sunday also directed all the states and the Union Territories (UTs) to “suitably modify” their lockdown orders in pursuance to the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to reflect the correct position.
Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla in a written instruction to the chief secretaries and the administrators in all the states and the UTs also mentioned that they should alert their field agencies to ensure smooth movement of the entire supply chain of essential goods, including e-commerce.
It was also directed that the public should also adequately informed about the guidelines.
The Ministry said that there have been no new cases in 54 districts in 23 states and Union Territories in the country in the last 14 days. (IANS)
