Key Points:
- Ministry of Home Affairs declared Standard Operating Procedures for curbing the Coronavirus.
- The guidelines will be implemented on December 1 and will continue to run till December 31.
- No Movement of people except Medical emergencies and supply of essentials in the containment zones will be allowed.
- The decision of the Night Curfew depends solely on the States and UT’s.
- Local Lockdowns will not be permitted until the Central Government’s permission .
On Wednesday, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs released a new set of guidelines for Surveillance, Containment, Appropriate Behavior and Restrictions for curbing the Covid-19 virus. The fresh norms will be implemented from December 1, 2020 and will stay the same till December 31st.
Amit Shah, the Union Minister of the country who handles the Ministry of Home Affairs has asked all the States and Union Territories to make sure the segregation of “Dynamic Containment Zones,” which the minister mentioned during the meeting held with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The meeting was conducted in order to review the current Covid-19 situation in the country. The demarcation of the zones is to be done by the district authorities at the micro level, said MHA.
The Ministry of Home Affairs gave Standard Operating Procedures for the month of December. They are as follows:
1) Surveillance and Containment
– Careful demarcations of Containment Zones by the districts at the Micro Level.
– Essential Activities
– No Movement of people except Medical emergencies and supply of essentials.
– House-to-House surveillance
– Protocolled Testing
– Listing of Positive patients as well as Tracking them for 14 days quarantine time.
– Surveillance for ILI/ SARI cases shall be carried out in health facilities or outreach mobile units or through fever clinics in buffer zones.
2) General Protocols
– Cinema Halls and Theatres – 50% capacity
– Swimming Pools – only for sports trainees
– Exhibition Halls – for Business purposes
– All type of Gatherings – 50% capacity ONLY
– 200 persons in Closed spaces.
– Night Curfew – depends on the decision of the States and UT’s
– No Local Lockdowns without permission of the Central Govt.
– No Restriction on Inter and Intra-State Movements.
– Use of Aarogya Setu App must be encouraged.
Official Press Release – https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1675624
The rules that the Union Ministry has given must be strictly followed by all states and UT’s. The fresh guidelines come at a time when India’s Covid-19 tally has surpassed 9.22 million with 444,746 active cases. While the virus has claimed 134,699 lives, as many as 8,642,771 have recovered from the disease.
