Travel to night curfew: Lockdown 5.0 rules aim to open up country

Home Ministry guidelines focus is on economy as containment zones stay under restrictions.

The government on Saturday extended a weeks-long lockdown to contain the coronavirus in places worst affected by the disease's outbreak, allowing "phased re-opening" elsewhere.

Here is what is allowed, and what is not, according to the union home ministry’s new guidelines called "Unlock 1".

• Religious places, hotels, restaurants and shopping malls will be allowed to reopen from June 8 in phase 1 under guidelines issued by the union health ministry.

• Schools, colleges, and other educational institutions will be opened in phase 2 "after consultations" with states and union territories (UT), according to the guidelines. A decision on reopening educational institutions would be taken in July after states and UT take "feedback from parents and stakeholders"

• Phase three will fix dates for re-starting international air travel, Metro Rail services, cinema halls, gymnasiums, swimming pools, entertainment parks, theatres, bars and auditoriums, assembly halls and similar places. Dates will also be decided for social/ political/ sports/ entertainment/ academic/ cultural/ religious functions and other large congregations.
   
• Night curfew timings will be changed to 9 pm to 5 am from 7 pm to 7am. Between 9 pm and 5 am, "movement of individuals shall remain strictly prohibited".

• Containment zones, places with a high number coronavirus cases, will continue under lockdown till June 30. Government authorities in districts will "demarcate" these zones following the union health ministry’s guidelines.

• No separate permission, approval or e-permit will be required for inter-state or intra-state movement of people and goods.

• States and UTs will be free to "prohibit certain activities" outside containment zones, allowing them to make their rules. "The current phase of re-opening, Unlock 1, will have an economic focus," said the guidelines.