STATES ALLOWED TO IMPOSE CURBS; BUT LOCKDOWNS ONLY AFTER TALKS
Allows night curfew, but says states can’t impose lockdown outside containment zones without prior permission from the central government
NEW DELHI: Concerned over a sudden spike in Covid-19 cases, the Centre on Wednesday announced that states and Union territories can impose local restrictions such as night curfew based on their assessment of the pandemic situation. It, however, said that for any local lockdown outside the containment zones, they will have to consult it first.
The ministry of home affairs, while issuing new guidelines for the month of December, said it has allowed the states/ UTs to impose fines on people not seen wearing masks. The ministry has particularly directed the states to focus on contact tracing in containment zones.
NEW DELHI: The Centre on Wednesday issued fresh guidelines allowing states and union territories to impose local restrictions, such as night curfew, based on their assessment of the situation, amid the rise in the number of Covid-19 cases in various states. However, the states cannot impose any local lockdown outside the containment zones without prior consultation with the Centre, according to an order issued by the ministry of home affairs on Wednesday.
The MHA also said that state governments can consider implementing staggered office timings and other suitable measures in cities where the weekly case positivity rate is more than 10% so that the number of employees attending offices at the same time can be reduced.
The new guidelines – termed ‘Guidelines for Surveillance, Containment and Caution’- will remain in force from December 1 to December 31.
They have been issued a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a meeting with the chief ministers of several states during which the severity of the third wave of infection was flagged by several leaders present.
The order said that “the main focus of the latest guidelines is to consolidate the substantial gains that have been achieved against the spread of Covid-19 which is visible in the steady decline in the number of active cases in the country”. “Further, keeping in view the recent spike in new cases in few states/UTs, ongoing festival season and onset of winter, it is emphasised that to fully overcome the pandemic, there is need to maintain caution and to strictly follow the prescribed containment strategy, focussed on surveillance, containment and strict observance of the guidelines/SOPs (standard operating procedures) issued by MHA and ministry of health and family welfare,” the order said.
It said that local district, police and municipal authorities shall be responsible to ensure that the prescribed containment measures are strictly followed. The MHA also gave freedom to the state governments to take administrative action against people not following the basic Covid safety measures. It said, “State/UT governments shall take all necessary measures to promote Covid-19 appropriate behavior and to ensure strict enforcement of wearing of face masks, hand hygiene and social distancing.” For observance of social distancing in crowded places, it said that the health ministry will issue a SOP soon.
IT SAID THAT LOCAL DISTRICT, POLICE AND MUNICIPAL AUTHORITIES SHALL BE RESPONSIBLE TO ENSURE THAT THE PRESCRIBED CONTAINMENT MEASURES ARE STRICTLY FOLLOWED.