Lockdown to continue in containment zones till June 30, only essential activities allowed: MHA

Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Saturday said that lockdown will continue in containment zones till June 30 and only essential activities will be allowed in those areas.

"Lockdown shall continue to remain in force in the containment zones till 30 June. In the containment zones, only essential activities shall be allowed. There shall be strict perimeter control to ensure that there is no movement of people in or out of these zones, except for medical emergencies and for maintaining supply of essential goods and services. In the containment zones, there shall be intensive contact tracing, house-to-house surveillance, and other clinical interventions, as required," MHA said in its guidelines of Unlock 1.

MHA said that containment zones will be demarcated by the District authorities after taking into consideration the guidelines of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).

"Guidelines of MoHFW shall be taken into consideration for demarcating the containment zones. States/ UTs may also identify Buffer Zones outside the Containment Zones, where new cases are more likely to occur. Within the buffer zones, restrictions, as considered necessary, may be put in place by the District authorities," MHA said.

MHA issued new guidelines for phased re-opening of "all activities outside containment zones for the next one month beginning June 1".

The guidelines for the phased re-opening -- Unlock 1 -- of the nationwide lockdown will come into effect from June 1, 2020, and will be effective till June 30, 2020.

Continuing with its earlier order, the MHA said that spitting in public places will be punishable with fine and consumption of liquor, paan, gutka, tobacco etc in public places is prohibited.

According to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the total number of COVID-19 cases in the country is 1,73,763, including 86,422 active cases. While 82,369 patients have recovered after treatment, 4,971 deaths due to the infection have been reported so far in the country.

( With inputs from ANI )