SHILLONG: The ongoing lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19 is likely to continue beyond May 3 with consensus across the country tilted in favour of status quo. The lockdown, which was initially scheduled to end on April 14, was extended till May 3 with the number of people affected by the disease growing steadily.
Emerging from a video conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi — the fourth such interaction since March 22 — and chief ministers of all the states on Monday, the Chief Minister, Conrad K Sangma, said there was agreement among the states to continue with the lockdown.
(A final decision will be taken during the weekend, officials said on Monday, according to a PTI report from New Delhi)
Speaking to newsmen, Sangma informed that many have already written to the prime minister pitching for the lockdown to continue.
Informing that the prime minister is also of similar opinion, the chief minister, however, said that continuing with the lockdown does not mean shutting down everything.
“We are in favour of resuming certain economic activities, especially in the green zones. Free movement of people across states is something which could lead to the entire situation getting out of hand”, he said.
Asked whether the state or Centre will decide on the lockdown, the chief minister said the Centre will lay down norms whereas the day-to-day activities by and large have always been left to the state government.
Stating that there is a need to revisit the definition of lockdown, he said that parameters for areas falling under the green zones, orange zones and the red zones ought to be clear.
“It is important for the state and the Centre to clearly define the nature of lockdown in these specific zones,” Sangma said.
According to him, there should be relaxation depending on the situation in respective areas so that livelihood of the people is not affected. He, however, said that the overall movement of the people in the country is something which still needs to be restricted because there are a large number of red zones in the country.
Sangma said that the prime minister also mentioned that it is going to be a long-drawn battle and one cannot expect that things will return to normalcy very soon.
According to him, there are certain norms that people must get used to, like social distancing and wearing of face masks in public places.
“A lot of positive discussion took place during today’s video conference. We have learnt from different chief ministers on the best practices being adopted. The prime minister also suggested that we document the best practices and share these amongst us”, Sangma said.
“The positive thing is that the numbers for India compared to other nations are quite low. It shows that timely decisions were taken by the Centre and the prime minister. Lockdown was done at the right time and I think that this really helped in controlling the numbers to a large extent”, Sangma said.
Education institutions, shopping malls, religious places and public transport likely to remain shut
In green zones, limited private vehicles may be allowed to ply
Full-scale train and air services unlikely to start anytime soon
Possibility of regulated train or air services after mid-May between some designated places depending on the COVID-19 situation.
Ban on public and social gatherings also expected to continue.