The government on Friday has announced the extension of lockdown for two more weeks beyond May 3. This is the third consecutive lockdown after March 25 due to the novel coronavirus.

This time, the lockdown has come when most of the areas are segregated into red, orange and green zones, a step introduced by the government weeks ago to identify the most, medium and least/zero affected areas respectively.

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Ministry of Home Affairs has released an order in respect to the lockdown giving details about what is allowed and what is not allowed in these three zones during the third phase of the lockdown.

“After a comprehensive review and in view of the lockdown measures having led to significant gains in the COVID-19 situation, the government has decided to further extend the lockdown,” the order read.

https://twitter.com/PIBHomeAffairs/status/1256215258659803137

https://twitter.com/PIBHomeAffairs/status/1256215258659803137

As per the new guidelines, a limited number of activities will be prohibited throughout the country, irrespective of the zone.

These activities include travel by air, rail, metro and inter-state movement by road; running of schools, colleges, and other educational and training/coaching institutions.

A government order has said that the movement of individuals for all non-essential activities shall remain prohibited between 7 pm and 7 am. Local authorities shall issue orders imposing Section 144 and ensure strict compliance.

In all the zones, persons who are 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, the order said.

Further, the order said the Out Patient Department (OPD) and medical clinics shall be permitted to operate in Red, Orange and Green Zones with social distancing norms and other preventive measures.

However, these will not be permitted in the containment zones.

According to the press note released by the Ministry of Health, following are the services which will not be allowed irrespective of the zone:

• Travel by air, rail, metro and inter-state movement by road (However it is allowed for select purposes after the permission from Home Ministry)
• Schools, colleges, coaching institution
• Hotels and restaurants
• Place of public gatherings like cinema halls, malls, gyms, sports complexes
• Religious places and place of worship

Activities ‘not allowed’ in Red Zones

• Plying of rickshaws and auto-rickshaws
• Taxis and cab aggregators
• Spas, saloons and barbershops
• Plying of buses inter-district and intradistrict

What is allowed in Red Zones?

• Movement of individuals and vehicle only for permitted activities. For vehicles, maximum of 2 persons, besides the driver, in four-wheeler vehicles is allowed. In the case of two-wheeler vehicles, no pillion rider is allowed
• Special Economic Zones (SEZs), Export Oriented Units (EOUs), industrial estates and industrial townships with access control have been permitted
• Construction activities in urban areas have been limited to in-situ construction (where workers are available on site and no workers are required to be brought in from outside) and construction of renewable energy projects
• Manufacturing units of essential goods, including drugs, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, their raw material and intermediates; production units, which require continuous process, and their supply chain; manufacturing of IT hardware; jute industry with staggered shifts and social distancing; and, manufacturing units of packaging material
• Shops in urban areas, for non-essential goods, are not allowed in malls, markets and market complexes
• All industrial and construction activity in rural areas, including MNREGA works, food-processing units and brick-kilns
• In rural areas, without distinction of nature of goods, all shops except in shopping malls, are permitted
• All agricultural activities – sowing, harvesting, procurement and marketing operations in the agricultural supply chain are permitted
• Animal husbandry activities are fully permitted including fisheries
• All plantation activities are allowed, including their processing and marketing
• All health services (including AYUSH) are to remain functional, including transport of medical personnel and patients through air ambulances
• Banks, non-banking finance companies, insurance and capital market activities and credit co-op societies are allowed to open
• Public utilities in power, water, sanitation, waste management, telecommunication and internet
• Courier and postal services
• E-Commerce activities, in the Red Zones, are permitted only in respect of essential goods
• Private offices can operate with upto 33% strength as per requirement, with the remaining persons working from home
• 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
• All Government offices shall function with senior officers of the level of Deputy Secretary and above at full strength, and the remaining staff attending upto 33% as per requirement. Defense and Security services, Health and Family Welfare, Police, Prisons, Home Guards, Civil Defence, Fire and Emergency Services, Disaster management and related services, National Informatics Centre (NIC), Customs, Food Corporation of India (FCI), National Cadet Corps (NCC), Nehru Yuvak Kendra (NYK) and Municipal services shall function without any restrictions; delivery of public services shall be ensured and necessary staff will be deployed for such purpose
• Print and electronic media, IT and IT-enabled services, data and call centres, cold storage and warehousing services, private security and facility management services, and services provided by self-employed persons, except for barbers etc.
• Manufacturing units of essential goods, including drugs, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, their raw material and intermediates; production units, which require continuous process, and their supply chain
• Jute industry with staggered shifts and social distancing; and manufacturing of IT hardware and manufacturing units of packaging material will be permitted.

What is allowed in the Orange Zones?

Apart from what is allowed in the Red Zones, the following are allowed in Orange Zones,

• Taxi and cab aggregators with 1 driver and 1 passenger only
• Inter-district movement of vehicles for permitted activities only
• Private four-wheeler with maximum of two passengers apart from the driver
• Pillion rider will be allowed on a two-wheeler

Activities allowed in Green Zones:

In Green Zones, all activities are permitted apart from those which are prohibited throughout the country, irrespective of the zones.

Buses can operate with upto 50% seating capacity and bus depots can operate with upto 50% capacity.

Apart from these activities, the government said that all good traffic will also be permitted.