Centre extends lockdown till May 31, here's how states plan to deal with it
Even as the Centre is expected to announce the new set of guidelines for lockdown 4.0 on Sunday (May 17), several states including Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have already extended the lockdown in their respective states till May 31.
The Centre on Sunday (May 17) extended the nationwide lockdown till May 31 in view of the COVID-19 situation in the country. Starting May 18, lockdown 4.0 will see a revival of economic activities and eased restrictions in states according to the severity of infections.
Meanwhile, before the Centre made the announcement, several states including Punjab, Mizoram, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra had already extended the lockdown in their respective domains until the end of this month.
Related news: Governments in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu extend lockdown till May 31
Here’s how states are preparing for lockdown 4.0:
Maharashtra
In an order issued on Sunday, Maharashtra Chief Secretary Ajoy Mehta said the lockdown in the state is extended till May 31 and “the calibrated phase-wise relaxation/lifting of lockdown orders will be notified in due course.”
“The green and orange zones will get more relaxations, in terms of starting more services. As of now, only essential services are operational,” he said.
While in the rest of the state, the guidelines of the Centre will be implemented when they are announced, according to reports, apart from Mumbai, the lockdown will be extended in hotspots like Mumbai, Pune, Malegaon, Aurangabad and Solapur.
Tamil Nadu
Citing consultations with top officials, public health, and medical experts, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami announced the extension of lockdown in the state till May 31.
While announcing new relaxations such as the resumption of public transportation in 25 districts of the state after a hiatus of nearly two months, he said, “In 12 other districts, including Chennai, there will be no change in the curbs and will continue as they existed during the third phase of lockdown, set to end on Sunday.”
The curbs including bar on functioning of educational institutions, public entry into religious places and relaxations already in force will continue throughout the state, the chief minister specified.
Punjab
In a live Facebook interaction as part of his #AskCaptain initiative, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Saturday (May 16) evening said the coronavirus lockdown in the state will continue till May 31, though his government will lift the curfew restrictions.
The containment zones will be sealed to enable the resumption of shops and small businesses in non-containment areas, the CM announced, adding that lockdown details will be announced by Monday after going through guidelines of the Centre.
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COVID-19 cases in one part of a district can result in classification of the entire district as a red zone, putting severe restrictions on industry and shops, he noted, underlining the need to scrap this system and go for a “containment-focused strategy.”
Mizoram
After various political parties and several organisations, including those of NGOs, churches and doctors, favoured extension of the lockdown at a meeting on Thursday (May 15), the Mizoram government on Friday (May 15) extended lockdown till May 31.
Chief Minister Zoramthanga who presided over Thursday’s meeting had said that extending the lockdown was crucial to ensure public safety, although the state has been declared a green zone after its lone patient recovered on May 9.
A task group was also formed to study about extending insurance cover to frontline workers such as police, village or local-level task force volunteers, government employees on special duty and those who pick garbage from quarantine facilities.
Telangana
Telangana has been the torch bearer for states when it comes to extending the Centre-imposed lockdown.
Twelve days before the end of lockdown 3.0, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Tuesday (May 5) announced extension of the lockdown in the state till May 29 but with relaxations in rural and municipal areas.
Out of the 33 districts in the state, Hyderabad, Medchal and Ranga Reddy districts (which largely form the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation area) are the cause of concern with regard to the spread of the virus, he said.
Even as the state government will implement the guidelines given by the Centre in all zones, it said in municipal towns, only 50 per cent of shops would be allowed to open as per a lottery system.
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Meanwhile, none of the other states have announced the extension of lockdown, but they have all suggested the extension on a countrywide level, with allowance of relaxations such as opening shopping malls, metro services outside containment zones and resumption of economic activities in major urban centres.
Delhi
In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, “We want there should not be any relaxation in containment zones. Outside containment zones, several economic activities should be started, but social distancing and masks should be mandatory.”
“We think after relaxing the lockdown, there would be an increase in coronavirus cases. But we have arranged hospitals, oxygen, ventilators, ambulances, ICUs etc to tackle the situation,” he added.
The Delhi government suggested opening of metro services from next week, but only for government employees and people engaged in essential services, even as it recommended that religious places, gyms and cinema halls remain closed during the fourth phase of the lockdown.
Haryana
Concurring with Kejriwal, Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala also suggested to Centre that all shops in main markets and shopping complexes should be allowed to open in the Lockdown 4.0, irrespective of the zone.
However, the curbs in containment zones should continue, the state government has suggested to the Centre.
He supported restarting of domestic flights as well as opening of schools and universities.
Kerala
After managing to flatten the pandemic curve with effective contact tracing measures and quarantine norms, Kerala wants to resume intra-state passenger trains, domestic flights within state, metro rail service, intra-district public transport, auto-taxi and restaurant services from Monday.
It also wants to allow liquor shops and dine-in restaurant services to start functioning while following strict social distancing norms.
The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 2,872 and the number of total positive cases went up to 90,927 on Sunday (May 17) morning, registering an increase of 120 fatalities and a record jump of 4,987 new cases in 24 hours, since 8 am Saturday, according to the Union Health Ministry.
The number of active COVID-19 cases stands at 53,946, while 34,108 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, it said.
Three states have reported over 10,000 cases so far with Maharashtra being the worst hit at 30,706 infections, followed by Gujarat (10,988) and Tamil Nadu (10,585).
In a bid to curb the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus, the nationwide lockdown was first imposed for 21 days starting March 25, then extended on April 15 for two weeks and later on May 4 till May 17.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address earlier this week, hinted at lockdown 4.0 being imposed from May 18 with a new set of guidelines, which will be formed based on the suggestions from states, sought during his fifth discussion with chief ministers on the pandemic on May 11.
(With inputs from agencies)