Schools, flight ops to remain closed till May 31; buses to operate with conditions: MHA guidelines on lockdown 4.0

NEW DELHI: Prohibition on all public gatherings, closure of schools, malls and restaurants, and suspension of flight and Metro services will remain in force till May 31 as the government on Sunday extended the ongoing countrywide lockdown to combat the COVID-19 spread.

The Union home ministry issued a nine-page guidelines listing the dos and don'ts during the lockdown 4.0 that has been clamped in the country to cut the chain of coronavirus infection.

The guidelines came soon after the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) extended the national lockdown beyond Sunday till May-end.

It said all domestic, international air travel of passengers, except domestic air ambulance, will remain prohibited.

Metro rail services, schools, colleges will remain closed till May end, the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said.

Hotels, restaurants, cinema halls, malls, swimming pools, gyms will also remain shut even as all social, political, religious functions, and places of worship will be closed till May 31, it said.

Meanwhile, the MHA allowed inter- and intra-state movement of public vehicles with conditions and reopening of all shops except those in malls and COVID-19 containment zones

States and Union Territories have been given the powers for delineation of Red, Green and Orange Zones as per COVID-19 situation, the MHA said.

All shops, except those in containment zones and malls, will be allowed to open from Monday with staggered timings during lockdown 4.0, it said.

The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 2,872 and the number of total positive cases climbed to 90,927 Sunday morning, according to the Union Health Ministry.