Unlock 4
No lockdown outside COVID-19 containment zones without prior consultation with Centre: Union Home Secretary writes to States/UTs
New Delhi/IBNS: After announcing fresh guidelines for the Unlock 4, which will come into effect from Sept 1, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla on Saturday wrote to the Chief Secretaries of all states as well as Union Territories (UTs), informing that no local lockdown outside containment zones shall be announced without prior consultation with the Centre.
In the two-page letter, Union Home Secretary also directed the Chief Secretaries of all states and UTs to ensure compliance of the guidelines on Unlock 4 and to direct all concerned authorities for their strict implementation.
Ajay Bhalla also wrote in the letter that there shall be no restriction on inter-state and intra-state movement of persons and goods including those for cross land-border trade under Treaties with neighbouring countries.
"No separate permission/approval/e-permit will be required for such movements," the letter read.
India to enter Unlock 4:
India's metro services will resume in September after months since the beginning of anti-Covid-19 lockdown, giving a sigh of relief to lakhs of office-goers in several major cities of the country.
Metro services have been allowed to resume from Sept 7 by the central government in Unlock 4, which will begin on 1st of the next month.
The central government, which on Saturday issued the guidelines for Unlock 4, has permitted social events with maximum 100 people from Sept 21 while the lockdown in all containment zones (where Covid-19 cases are reported) have been extended till 30th of the same month.
School, colleges, swimming pools, cinema halls will remain shut but open-air theatres have been allowed to resume from Sept 21.
However, large gatherings at any place will remain banned for the next month.
While inter-state and intra-state movements have been allowed, international flight services will remain closed barring the ones permitted by the government.
The Centre issued the guidelines on a day India reported over 76,000 Covid-19 cases, the biggest daily-spike in the world.
As per the Minister of Health and Family Welfare update, the country of 1.3 billion people on Saturday added 76,472 new infections- which is less than the figure registered on Friday and more than the ones on Thursday- taking the tally to 34,63,972.
As 1,021 people infected with the disease succumbed in 24 hours between Friday and Saturday mornings, the Covid toll has now touched 62,550.
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