COVID-19: Kerala govt announces new guidelines for lockdown 3.0

In the view of the extension of the lockdown, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday announced new guidelines to follow in the State. According to the new guidelines, Sundays have been declared as a closed day for everything, including vehicular movement. 

While essential activities are allowed to be open in the non-containment zones, public transport, public gathering, cinema theatres, religious places, events, malls, liquor shops, bars, barbershops, beauty parlors, gyms, and educational institutions will not be allowed to open across the state. In the Green Zone, shops can be open between 7 am and 7:30 pm for six days of the week. Along with it, taxi services can operate two passengers and Inter-district travel may be permitted for a maximum of two persons.

Meanwhile, as per the guidelines, the government offices of Group A and B employees can function with 50 percent attendance, while Group C and D employees can function with 33 percent attendance. 

Zone list to change as per the situation: CM

According to the Chief Minister, the zone list can change as per the situation and the containment zones within Red Zones would have "full lockdown with no exemptions". Currently, Ernakulam, Alappuzha, and Thrissur districts in Kerala have qualified to be in the Green Zone. Wayanad district which was included in the Green zone has changed to Orange zone after reporting a new case on Saturday. While, Kannur and Kottayam are under Red Zone, all other districts in the state fall under the Orange Zone. 

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India extends lockdown

The Ministry of Home Affairs on Friday issued a notification extending the nationwide lockdown by two weeks from May 4. The notification states the considerable relaxations in districts falling in green and orange zones allowed by MHA, will continue to remain in place. The Union Health Ministry has divided all districts across the nation as red (classified based on total active cases, doubling rate, the extent of testing and surveillance), orange (those neither in green or red zones), and green zones (Zero cases for past 21 days).

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COVID-19 crisis in India 

According to the latest update from the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, the number of total Coronavirus cases in the country has climbed to 39,980, including 28,046 active cases. While 1,301 deaths have been reported overall, around 10,633 people have been cured/discharged/migrated. Meanwhile, Maharashtra and Delhi have the highest number of cases in the country. 

Read: Kerala: 2 new COVID-19 cases reported, active cases at 96; state to delay sale of liquor

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(With ANI Inputs)