(Pakistan Point News - 30th May, 2020) From Krishnan Nayar NEW DELHI, 30th May 2020 (WAM) - India is to gradually open up activities which were prohibited during a two months-long, strict lockdown to stop the spread of Coronavirus, according to new guidelines announced here by the Ministry of Home Affairs tonight.
Religious places, hotels, restaurants, hospitality services and shopping malls will reopen from June 8 in the first phase of "Unlock," which will have an "economic focus," the government emphasized.
International air travel, namely, arrival and departure of passengers, will continue to be prohibited until the "Unlock-III" phase of this gradual reopening. Dates for the commencement of international flights would be decided "based on assessment of the situation" at a date, as yet unspecified, the new guidelines said.
Operation of metro rail transport in cities, cinema halls, gymnasiums, swimming pools, entertainment parks and theatres will also have to wait till "Unlock-III." sports and entertainment activities, political, cultural and religious functions involving large congregations of people will also continue to be banned until further notice.
According to the new guidelines, night curfew across the country will continue to be enforced, but its timings have been relaxed by four hours. Curfew will now remain in operation from 9pm to 5am.
In the phase called "Unlock-II," to be implemented in July, schools, universities and other vocational training institutions will be reopened after consultations with States and Union Territories.
With immediate effect, there will be no restrictions any more on inter-state movement of people and goods or on such movement within states.
"Persons above 65 years of age, persons with co-morbidities, pregnant women, and children below the age of 10 years, are advised to stay at home, except for meeting essential requirements and for health purposes," the guidelines said.
Strict lockdown measures which were practiced since March 25 will continue to be implemented in what are known as "containment zones" till June 30. These are areas with a high level of COVID-19 infections, presently confined to 13 cities in India.
Such zones will be identified by the State governments and Union Territory administrations, "after taking into consideration the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare."
According to figures released today by this Ministry, India reported another record daily increase of 7,964 new COVID-19 positive cases taking the total number of infections to 173,763 and 4,971 deaths. So far, 82,370 persons have recovered, 11,264 of these in the last 24 hours.
