Covid-19 Lockdown 3.0: Check what is allowed in your area, and what is not

After the government on Friday extended the lockdown in force across the country by another two weeks, till May 17, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued detailed guidelines detailing the activities that would be allowed, and not allowed in Red, Green and Orange Zones during this period. Before this, the nationwide lockdown first enforced from March 24 for 21 days, to prevent the spread of coronavirus, had first been extended by two weeks until May 3. In its guidelines, MHA has said the containment zones within red and orange zones will be demarcated by states and district administrations, with intensive surveillance, contact tracing and 100 per cent coverage of the Aaryogya Setu App among its residents. ALSO READ: Lockdown extended for 2 weeks after May 4, schools and colleges stay shut Here are the details provided in the guidelines:

Prohibited activities throughout the country, irrespective of the zone

• Travel by air, rail, metro and inter-state movement by road, running of schools, colleges, and other educational and training and coaching institutions; hospitality services, including hotels and restaurants.
• Places of large public gatherings such as cinema halls, malls, gymnasiums, sports complexes etc; social, political, cultural and other kinds of gatherings and religious places or places of worship for public.
• Movement of individuals, for all non-essential activities shall remain strictly prohibited between 7 pm to 7 am.
• 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.

Activities allowed irrespective of zones

• Movement of persons by air, rail and road is allowed for select purposes, and for purposes as permitted by Ministry of Home Affairs.
• Out-Patient Departments (OPDs) and medical clinics shall be permitted to operate in red, orange and green zones, with social distancing norms and other safety precautions. However, these will not be permitted within thecontainment zones.
• All goods traffic is to be permitted and no state or Union Territory shall stop the movement of cargo for cross land-border trade under treaties with neighbouring countries.
• Cars will be allowed to ply with only two persons per vehicle apart from the driver

Rules for the Red Zones

• In these zones, outside of the containment zones, certain activities are prohibited in addition to those prohibited throughout the country.
• These are plying of cycle rickshaws and auto rickshaws, running of taxis and cab aggregators, intra-district and inter-district plying of buses and barber shops, spas and saloons.
• Certain other activities have been allowed in the Red zones with restrictions.
• Movement of individuals and vehicles is allowed only for permitted activities, with a maximum of 2 persons (besides the driver) in four-wheeler vehicles and with no pillion rider in the case of two-wheelers.
• Shops in urban areas, for non-essential goods, are not allowed in malls, markets and market complexes.
• However, all standalone (single) shops, neighbourhood (colony) shops and shops in residential complexes are permitted to remain open in urban areas, without any distinction of essential and non-essential.
• Industrial establishments in urban areas, like Special Economic Zones (SEZs), Export Oriented Units (EOUs), industrial estates and industrial townships with access control have been permitted.
• Private offices can operate with upto 33 per cent strength as per requirement, with the remaining persons working from home.

What are containment zones?

A containment zone is one where someone is found positive for Covid-19. Such an area is considered contaminated and sealed off.

The residents of that area are asked not to step out of their homes. The health ministry has said even a single case of coronavirus can be a hotspot for the government. Districts will be defined as Red Zones or Hotspot districts, by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).

Rules for orange zones

• In addition to activities permitted in Red zone, taxis and cab aggregators will be permitted with 1 driver and 1 passenger only.
• Inter-district movement of individuals and vehicles will be allowed for permitted activities only. Four-wheeler vehicles will have maximum two passengers besides the driver and pillion riding will be allowed on two-wheelers.

Rules for Green zones

• All activities are permitted except the limited number of activities which are prohibited throughout the country, irrespective of the zone.
• However buses can operate with upto 50 per cent seating capacity and bus depots can operate with upto 50 per cent capacity.