India lockdown 3.0: Nationwide lockdown extends till May 17; parts of country will open but no rail, road, air travel for now

In a latest development, the Ministry of Home Affairs has issued a new notification, mentioning that the nationwide lockdown has been extended by two weeks (till May 17) from May 4. The first lockdown was announced by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi from March 22 to April 14. However, given the rising number of COVID-19 cases, the lockdown period was increased till May 3. And now, it has once again extended by two weeks to fight the pandemic that is spreading fast in the country.

The press release issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Government of India, the new guidelines are mentioned for the new lockdown which are based on the risk levels, red (being the hotspot), green and orange zones.
As per the government, places falling under green and orange zones will get considerable relaxations while the red zone areas will get no breather as such. However, travel by air, rail, metro along with inter-state movement will remain shut, irrespective of zones. Those who wish to travel for emergency reasons must obtain a pass from the government to do so.

Along with this, all the education institutes in the country along with schools, colleges and coaching institutions will remain closed. Hospitality services such as hotels and restaurants will also remain suspended during this time.
Places of public interest such as cinema halls, malls, shopping centres, gyms and sports complexes too will also remain closed. The lockdown is also applicable for social, political, religious and all sorts of gatherings.

The strict lockdown measures are being taken by the government to restrict the rising number of COVID-19 cases. As of now, India has registered 35365 COVID-19 positive cases and 1152 deaths.