Lockdown EXTENDED for 2 weeks beyond May 3; MHA advisory issued, districts divided into regions

The government on Friday extended the nationwide lockdown for another two weeks as India continues to tackle the coronavirus outbreak. In a statement released on Friday evening, the Centre said that this decision was taken after a comprehensive review, and in view of the Lockdown measures having led to significant gains in the COVID-19 situation in the country. 

It said that Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Government of India (GoI) issued an Order under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, today, to further extend the Lockdown for a further period of two weeks beyond May 4, 2020. The initial 21-day lockdown was announced on March 25 before the government deciding to extend it till May 3.

MHA has also issued new guidelines to regulate different activities in this period, based on the risk profiling of the districts of the country into Red (hotspot), Green and Orange Zones. The guidelines have permitted considerable relaxations in the districts falling in the Green and Orange Zones.

The criteria for identification of districts as Red, Green and Orange Zones have been spelt out in detail in the letter dated April 30, 2020, issued by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), GoI.  

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What are different zones?

The Green Zones will be districts with either zero confirmed cases till date; or, no confirmed case in the last 21 days.  

The classification of districts as Red Zones will take into account the total number of active cases, doubling rate of confirmed cases, extent of testing and surveillance feedback from the districts. 

Those districts, which are neither defined as Red nor Green, shall be classified as Orange zones. 

The classification of districts into Red, Green and Orange Zones will be shared by MoHFW with the States and Union Territories (UTs) on a weekly basis, or earlier, as required. 

While States and UTs can include additional districts as Red and Orange Zones, they may not lower the classification of a district included by MoHFW in the list of Red or Orange Zones.