A representational image of India Gate in New Delhi
The next round of lockdown, Lockdown 5.0, will begin from June 1 and go on till June 30, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) announced on Saturday. "Subsequently, in a graded manner and keeping the overarching objective of containing the spread of COVID-19 in view, the lockdown measures have been relaxed," said an MHA order, as it revealed a series of relaxations aimed at gradually opening up the economy over the next 30 days.
As per the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), malls, places of worship and even schools and other educational institutes (at a later date) will be allowed to re-open, provided that state authorities are comfortable with the idea. The lifting of curbs won't be applicable to containment zones. Thirteen Indian cities, including metros such as Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Ahmedabad among others, fall in these zones and account for 70 per cent of the country's coronavirus infections.
In effect, the government has extended the lockdown in containment zones till June 30.
"All activities that were prohibited earlier will be opened up in areas outside Containment Zones in a phased manner, with the stipulation of following Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), to be prescribed by the Health Ministry," said the MHA, further saying that the activities will be opened up in three phases, with religious place of worship to be ordered open from June 1.
In what is another big takeaway from Lockdown 5.0 guidelines, the government has lifted all restrictions on inter-state and intra-state movement of goods and passengers, which in effect will mean that private vehicles will be back on the roads, except in the containment zones.
The Union Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba on Thursday finalised the contours of the next round of lockdown in a meeting with his state counterparts and other officials. Another meeting was held later in the day which was chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Shah called open Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier on Saturday, sources said. Both the leaders dwelled upon the next stage of the lockdown process in their meeting, sources said.
(with inputs from Devendra Parashar)
