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(Eds: Combining related stories) New Delhi, May 1 () India will now be under lockdown till May 17 with a complete ban on air travel, trains and inter-state road transport for the general public while educational institutions, theatres, malls, hotels and bars will also remain shut, the government announced on Friday but gave some relaxations for various business activities and people's movement within areas with limited or no COVID-19 cases. The decision to extend the lockdown by two more weeks after May 3, when the second phase of these restrictions was scheduled to end, came amid a continuous rise in the number of people testing positive for the deadly virus infection across various states, including in major metropolitans, with the nationwide tally crossing 35,000. The death toll has crossed 1,100. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had first announced a 21-day nationwide lockdown from May 25, which was later extended by two more weeks to contain the virus spread. However, several experts have cautioned that the lockdown is severely impacting economy and many rating agencies and industry bodies have forecast a sharp dip in the country's economic growth rate for the current fiscal with a few even estimating an overall GDP decline. All major urban centres including Delhi and Mumbai have been identified as 'red zones' or areas with large numbers of cases and therefore not much relaxations would be applicable to them beyond already permitted ones for those involved in essential services. Special trains also began operating during the day, which also happened to be the Labour Day, to help lakhs of migrant workers stranded for over a month at various urban centres due to the lockdown with many of them having rendered jobless and homeless, reach their native places, including in different states. Separately, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat announced at a special press brieing, along with the three service chiefs, that the armed forces will express their gratitude to all "corona warriors" on Sunday by conducting fly-pasts, showering petals on hospitals treating COVID-19 patients and illuminating naval vessels. Besides, the Army will conduct mountain band displays along some COVID-19 hospitals in almost every district. Rawat also said it is not proper to conclude that the novel coronavirus outbreak is a result of biological warfare. US President Donald Trump had earlier said that the deadly virus originated from a virology lab in China's Wuhan city before it spread across the world and claimed over 233,000 lives and shattered global economies. But Trump's comments undercut a rare public statement from his own intelligence community, which stated no such assessment has been made by them whether the COVID-19 outbreak began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan. While several countries including Italy, Switzerland, New Zealand, Austria and various states of the US have begun easing their respective lockdowns, India has decided to implement the third phase of its own lockdown, while providing specific relaxations to less affected and 'virus-free' areas by classifying districts and cities into red, orange and green zones. But, some activities will remain prohibited throughout the country, irrespective of the zone, and these include air travel, rail, metro and inter-state movement by road, running of schools, colleges, and other educational and training hospitality services, cinema halls, malls, gymnasiums, sports complexes, as per an order issued by the Union Home Ministry. All social, political, cultural and other kinds of gatherings and religious places or places of worship for public will also remain shut, the order said. Outside the containment zone falling within red zones, certain more activities are prohibited in addition to those banned throughout the country and these include plying of cycle rickshaws and auto-rickshaws, running of taxis and cab aggregators, intra-district and inter-district plying of buses, as also barber shops, spas and saloons. Activities allowed in red zones with restrictions would include movement of individuals and vehicles for permitted activities, with a maximum of two persons (besides the driver) in four-wheelers and with no pillion rider in two-wheelers. Industrial establishments in urban areas including Special Economic Zones (SEZs), Export Oriented Units (EOUs), industrial estates and industrial townships with access control have been permitted. Construction activities in urban areas will be limited to in-situ construction (where workers are available on site and no workers are required to be brought in from outside) and construction of renewable energy projects. Shops in urban areas, for non-essential goods, are not allowed in malls, markets and market complexes. However, all standalone shops, neighbourhood shops and shops in residential complexes are permitted to remain open in urban areas, without any distinction of essential and non-essential. E-Commerce activities in red zones are permitted only for essential goods. Private offices can operate with up to 33 per cent strength as per requirement, with the remaining persons working from home. All government offices can function with senior officers of the level of Deputy Secretary and above at full strength, and up to one-third of remaining staff. Commercial and private establishments allowed in red zones include print and electronic media, IT and IT enabled services, data and call centres, cold storage and warehousing services, private security and facility management services, and services provided by self-employed persons, except for barbers. In orange zones, taxis and cab aggregators will also be permitted with one driver and one passenger only, while inter-district movement of individuals and vehicles will be allowed for permitted activities only. Four-wheeler vehicles will have maximum two passengers besides the driver and pillion riding will be allowed on two-wheelers. In green zones, all activities are permitted except those prohibited throughout the country irrespective of the zone. However buses and bus depots can operate with maximum 50 per cent capacity. Earlier in the day, the Union Health Ministry listed 130 districts in the country in red zone, 284 in orange zone and 319 in green zone. This classification of districts is to be followed by states and UTs till May 10 and the will be revised on a weekly basis or earlier if required, Major cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Pune, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad have been designated as red zones in the new classification. A district will be considered under green zone if there has been no confirmed cases of COVID-19 so far or there is no reported case since last 21 days in the district. Red zone districts are those considered to be infection 'hotspots', decided on the basis of number of active cases, doubling rate of confirmed cases and extent of testing and surveillance feedback. Districts which are neither defined as a red or green zone, would be considered as an orange zone. The Health Ministry also said India has ramped up production of COVID-19 protective gears and medical equipment to reduce its dependence on foreign countries for these items which are in high demand globally due to the pandemic. In its evening update, the Ministry said the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in India has risen to 35,365 with 1,152 deaths, while 9,065 people have so far recovered. ACB SKL MPB ASK PLB BJBJ

COVID-19: Lockdown extended for two more weeks; 'Considerable relaxations' for safer zones

Pune, May 25 () On the first day of resumption of flight services, the Pune international airport in Maharashtra has handled arrival and departure of seven flights by Monday afternoon, a senior aviation official said. He said the airport is scheduled to operate the total of 17 flights throughout the day. Domestic passenger flight operations, which remained suspended for two months owing to the nationwide lockdown necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic, resumed on Monday. "Till Monday afternoon, four flights carrying 354 passengers landed at the Pune airport while three flights with 622 passengers have taken off," said an Pune Airport Authority official. He said details like the places of the origin of the flights and the destination cities will be made available later. With services of app-based cab aggregators not available as Pune falls in the COVID red zone, the passengers have been instructed to travel to and from the airport either in their own vehicles or use dial a rickshaw facility, he said. SPK NSK NSK

As air services resume, four flights land at Pune airport

By Achinta Borah New Delhi, May 15 () Greater relaxations and flexibility will be seen in the lockdown 4.0, which will begin on Monday, with gradual reopening of the railways and domestic airlines while powers will be given to States and UTs to define their hotspots, officials said on Friday. Schools, colleges, malls and cinema halls will not be allowed to open anywhere in the country but salons, barber shops and optical shops may be allowed in red zones, barring COVID-19 containment areas. There will be lots of relaxations and flexibility in the lockdown 4.0 with complete reopening of the green zones, very limited curb in orange zones and strict restrictions only in the containment areas of red zones, said an official privy to the deliberations in the central government. However, the final guidelines will be issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs only after going through the suggestions of state governments. The state governments and union territory administrations have been asked to submit their recommendations by Friday. According to officials, Punjab, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Assam and Telangana wanted the lockdown to be continued, some of them wanted the powers to decide the zoning of districts -- green, orange and red -- as per the COVID-19 situation. This request of the state governments may be accepted so that they can restrict or allow movement of people or economic activities in a particular place depending on the ground situation, the official told . Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address to the nation on Monday, had said that the lockdown 4.0 will have a "completely different form", with new rules. "No state wants complete withdrawal of lockdown but all want gradual resumption of economic activities," the official said. Gradual and need-based operations of the railways and domestic airlines are likely to be allowed from next week but full-fledged opening of the two sectors is unlikely to take place immediately. Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka were among some states which were not in favour of complete resumption of train and air services, at least till May-end, the official said. The railways have already started special trains to 15 destinations from Delhi and have been running several hundred 'Shramik Special' trains from different parts of the country to various places for transportation of migrant workers stranded due to the lockdown. The Air India is also engaged in evacuation of thousands of Indians stranded abroad during the lockdown under the 'Vande Bharat Mission'. Local trains, buses and metro services may start running with limited capacity in non-containment areas of red zones. Autos and taxis are also expected to be allowed in red zones with restrictions on the number of passengers. Most of these services will be allowed within the districts in non-containment areas and state governments may be authorised to take a call on their reopening, another official said. Powers to open markets in orange and red zones may be given to state governments, which may follow the odd-even policy while allowing shops of non-essential goods to open. E-commerce platforms may be allowed to deliver non-essential items even in red zones, barring the containment areas. Sale of non-essential items by e-commerce companies have already allowed in green and orange zones. Maharashtra, which the has highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths from the virus, wants a strict lockdown measures in Mumbai, its suburbs and Pune, and complete stop of inter-state and inter-district transport of any kind. Whereas, Gujarat with second highest number of positive cases wants resumption of economic activities in major urban centres. States which are in favour of opening up of economic activities include Delhi, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, the official said. Kerala is believed to have suggested reopening of restaurants and hotels to revive the tourism sector. Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha, which have seen spike in the COVID-19 cases after arrival of migrant workers, want continuation of lockdown with strict curbs on movement of people. Lockdown was first announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 24 for 21 days in a bid to combat the coronavirus pandemic. It was first extended till May 3 and again till May 17. ACB SMNSMN

Greater relaxations in lockdown 4.0; States, UTs to be empowered to take decisions on curbs

New Delhi, May 4 () From laptops to apparels, people logged on to e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Paytm Mall and Snapdeal on Monday to place orders for non-essential items but lack of adequate manpower amid the lockdown could delay deliveries, according to industry executives. E-commerce companies have been permitted to sell all items in Orange and Green Zones starting from Monday, the first day of the third phase of the nationwide lockdown that began on March 25. Depending on the number of cases of coronavirus infections, areas have been divided into Red, Orange and Green Zones. In the Red Zones, which include Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune and Hyderabad, the companies can ship only essential items like grocery, medicines and healthcare products. However, shortage of staff at warehouses and for logistics could result in delays in deliveries of items, as per the executives. An Amazon India spokesperson said the company saw demand for various kinds of smart devices, products related to electrical appliances, clothes and work from home enablers, among others. "Our consumers in Orange/ Green zones are buying other priority products that they needed the most. Thousands of sellers have received orders for the first time since the lockdown began in March and we are hopeful that this will help jumpstart the livelihood of many small sellers and their workforce," the spokesperson said. The company reiterated its demand that the list of priority products be expanded for customers in the Red Zone as well in order to revive economic activity while serving urgent needs and ensuring citizen safety in a high-risk area. Under the first and second phase of the nationwide lockdown between March 25 and May 3, the government only allowed delivery of essential goods, including grocery, pharmaceuticals and healthcare products, through e-commerce platforms. A Snapdeal spokesperson said the company expects 80-90 per cent of its sellers in the Orange and Green Zones to become active over the course of this week. On an average, deliveries are being promised within 6-10 days and actual deliveries are likely to be completed in lesser number of days, the spokesperson added. "Thousands of our sellers received orders for non-essential products on Day 1... we have started picking up orders from sellers in Salem, Amritsar, Gurugram and Guwahati, amongst many other locations. "Some of the products supplied by our sellers today include steel utensils, apparel, footwear, notebooks and pens, and electronics like power banks, phone and laptop chargers," the spokesperson said. Paytm Mall Vice President Srinivas Mothey said consumer electronics, laptops, mobile phones, home, and fashion products are among the few categories that are doing extremely well on its platform. "... we believe this trend would continue for the next couple of days. As we have noticed earlier people are ordering the most for work and study from home essentials. Depending on the type of product we are offering delivery timelines between two to five days," he added. However, e-commerce companies are also facing challenges on a few fronts. An industry executive, who did not wish to be named, said lesser manpower at warehouses and those available as delivery staff could result in delivery timelines getting delayed. E-commerce companies could look at sharing delivery resources from other digital business like online food delivery to shorten delays, the executive noted. A senior industry executive said that apart from the guidelines issued by the Centre, there are rules specified by states and even districts. Given that the classification of Red, Orange and Green Zones is in a dynamic state, it could make operations difficult for online commerce platforms, the executive said. The classification of zone changes depending on the number of coronavirus cases in a particular area. Also, standalone retail shops -- irrespective of whether they sell essential or non-essential items -- have been allowed to operate in Red Zones while e-commerce platforms are not allowed to ship non-essential items to such areas. There is no level-playing field between the two modes, the executive quoted above said. Another challenge for e-commerce companies that follow the marketplace model like Amazon India, Flipkart and Snapdeal is that many of their sellers are either located or have their warehouses in Red Zones. The home ministry guidelines, issued a few days ago, remain unclear on operations of these marketplace sellers of non-essential products, who are in Red Zones. So, they are dependent on how local authorities issue their guidelines, the executive said. SR RAM

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COVID-19: Lockdown extended for two more weeks; 'Considerable relaxations' for safer zones

PTI

As air services resume, four flights land at Pune airport

PTI

Greater relaxations in lockdown 4.0; States, UTs to be empowered to take decisions on curbs

PTI

Lockdown 3.0: People place orders online for non-essential items; staff crunch may delay deliveries

PTI

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