India’s ministry of home affairs extended the lockdown period by another two weeks

New Delhi:1/5/20:India’s ministry of home affairs today extended the lockdown period by another two weeks from May 4.

“After a comprehensive review and in view of the lockdown measures having led to significant gains in the COVID-19 situation in the country, MHA has issued an order under the Disaster Management  Act, 2005 today to further extend the lockdown period of two weeks beyond May 4,” the notice said.

The lockdown in India which had come into effect on March 24 was extended till May 3 during an address to the nation by PM Modi. The current extension is now due to last till May 17.

“MHA 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 MHA said in a statement.

“The guidelines have permitted considerable relaxations in the districts falling in the Green and Orange Zones,” it said.

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

“Those districts which are neither defined as Red or Green shall be classified as Orange Zones.”

“The classification of districts into Red, Green, and Orange will be shared by the ministry,” it said, adding,”it would be shared on a weekly basis with States and Union Territories.”