Lockdown 4 Explained: Red, Orange, Green, Containment And Buffer Zones, Now To Be Classified By States

New Delhi: On Sunday, May 17, centre announced the new guidelines for the fourth phase lockdown in India that has been necessitated amid coronavirus pandemic. Lockdown 4.0 to remain in effect till May 31 and this time the focus is on revival of businesses with special attention to measures to prevent spread of infection. According to the guidelines issued by Ministry for Home Affair’s, states/UTs have now been given the power to decide on the different zones – red, green, orange, containment and buffer zones, which was in earlier phases decided by the centre itself.

However, the Centre has made it clear that only essential activities shall be allowed in containment zones – areas which are severely affected by the coronavirus outbreak.

What Is Allowed And What’s Not In Lockdown 4?

The Centre has allowed buses and other vehicles to run both inter-state and intra-state, except in containment zones. However, air travel and metro rail, malls, gyms, cinemas and big gatherings — have been retained even in this phase of lockdown.

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As per the new guidelines, workplaces, shops and markets can now function but with staggered timings and ‘do gaz doori (minimum six feet distance) and that TOO no more than five people are allowed inside at any given time. The centre in the guideline also mentioned that the practice of work from home should be followed to the extent possible. At workplaces, where work from home is not possible, there should be provision for thermal scanning, hand wash and sanitizers in common areas and rules of social distancing should be strictly maintained.

Another big change in this phase of lockdown is that e-commerce firms can now deliver non-essential items to coronavirus red zones – areas that have several active cases, high doubling rate of confirmed cases. And in containment zones, essential services will be permitted. Restaurants are also permitted to operate kitchens for home delivery of food items in lockdown 4.0.

The movement will also be restricted between 7 pm to 7 am except for essential activities across the nation.

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How The States Are Colour Coding Different Zones?

As per the guidelines by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), the Green Zones will be districts with either zero confirmed cases till date; or, no confirmed case in the last 21 days. Whereas, districts will be marked as Red Zones or hotspots if the total number of active cases are more and the doubling rate of confirmed cases is high. Feedback from the districts officials will also be taken into consideration. Those districts, which are neither defined as Red nor Green, shall be classified as Orange zones.

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Classification, Demarcation In Lockdown 4.0

As per the new guidelines for lockdown 4,  MHA has said that the state/UT governments will now have the power to delineate red, orange and green zones, the power to demarcate containment zones and buffer zones will rest with district authorities. In addition, states and UTs have also been empowered to prohibit certain activities in various zones and impose such restrictions as deemed necessary in the best interest of public health.

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