Lockdown Till 17 May: Liquor Shops, Pan Shops, Private Offices to Open Lockdown has been extended by two more weeks but select business activities will resume depending on zone classification

The government has extended the covid-19 lockdown slated to end on 3 May for another 14 days till 17 May. For the third phase of the lockdown, the home ministry has announced new guidelines that include considerable relaxations for some of the low-risk districts.

Some of these relaxations include opening of liquor shops, tobacco shops and private offices, but with certain restrictions and strict social distancing norms.

The new guidelines have been issued on the basis of division of the districts in the country into red, orange and green zones.

While districts with zero cases till date or no cases in the last 21 days will fall in green zone, red zone districts will be decided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the government depending on the total number of active cases, doubling rate of confirmed cases and scale of testing, as per the official statement of Ministry of Home Affairs.

Districts in orange zone will be those not falling in either of the other two zone's criteria. All the 11 districts in the national capital Delhi are in red zone, as per a list released earlier today by Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan.

Take note that some services including air travel (both domestic and international), train travel, inter-state buses, metro rail, all educational institutions, malls, restaurants, cinema halls, hotels, other entertainment centers, gyms, sports complexes, all religious places and all types of social gatherings will continue to be banned across the country, including in green zones.

Further, this is how the country is partially re-opening in the third phase of the lockdown depending on the different zones:

What Is Allowed In…

Red Zone

All industrial and construction activities in rural areas.

In urban areas industries falling under special economic zone (SEZs) and export oriented units (EOUs), manufacturing units of essential goods and packaging material, production units which require continuous process and jute industry.

In urban areas, construction only in sites where workers are available at the site and don't have to be called from outside and construction sites of energy renewable projects.

Shops selling essential goods.

Private companies with maximum 33 per cent workforce strength.

Government offices with 100 per cent strength of officers of the level of Deputy and above and up to 33 per cent strength of the remaining staff.

Orange Zone

Taxis and cab aggregators with up to 2 passengers apart from the driver.

Inter-district movement only for permitted activities. Four wheelers can have maximum two passengers apart from the driver.

Green Zone

All activities allowed.

Buses and bus depots can operate with up to 50 percent and 55 per cent capacity, respectively.

What is Not Allowed In…

Red Zone

Cycle rickshaws, auto rickshaws, taxis and cab aggregators.

Intra-district and inter-district buses.

Barber Shops, salons and spas.

Orange Zones

Intra-district and inter-district buses.

Green Zone

All activities allowed.

The MHA order has clearly stated that all workplaces and those in charge of public places will have to ensure that social distancing and sanitization norms are followed strictly.

Some of the compulsory measures include:

• Face covers in public places, including in offices
• Offices ensure adequate stock of face masks for employees
• Proper social distancing
• No more than five people gather at any public place
• Wedding gathering of no more than 50 people
• Funerals of no more than 20 people
• Shops selling liquor are located at a minimum distance of six feet and each shop can't have more than five people lined up in front of it
• Penal action on spitting in public places
• Persons above 65 years of age, pregnant women, and children below 10 years of age to stay at home except for meeting essential requirements
• Frequent sanitization of offices