New Delhi, Agencies. The government has extended the lockdown for 14 more days. This fourth phase of the lockdown will begin on Monday 18 May and end on 31 May. As PM Modi indicated in his address to the nation… According to the guidelines issued by the Union Home Ministry, Lockdown-4 is going to be completely different from all the previous steps. The most important thing is that in this lockdown the areas will be divided into a total of five zones.
According to the guidelines issued by the central government, this time the areas will be divided into five zones. Earlier, all the lockdowns were divided into three zones and all were decided on the basis of central government standards. This time the areas will be divided into Containment, Buffer, Red, Green and Orange zones. According to the guideline, the Containment and Buffer zones will be within the… Red and Orange zones which will be decided by the District Administration. It can also be said that mainly there will be three zones, the remaining two zones (containment and buffer) will be determined within the Red and Orange zones.
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This time the Central Government has left the responsibility of determining the zones to the States and Union Territories. The guideline issued by the government states that the state governments will determine these zones keeping in mind the standards of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Only necessary activities will be allowed in the Containment Zones. The movement of ordinary people will not be allowed in these lives. Only those working for medical emergency, essential services will be allowed to visit. The standards of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare will be applicable in these zones. However, the district administration will determine these areas.
A comprehensive campaign will be carried out to identify the infected in the Containment Zones. Intensive contract tracing along with information about people will be collected from house to house to identify the infected people in these areas. Not only this, other medical measures will also be tried. 
Rule number eight of the Guidelines issued by the Center states that the State Governments can stop the activities by assessing what other activities are not allowed in the classified zones. That is, the Center has given more rights to the State Governments in Lockdown-4 than the previous three lockdowns regarding activities.
The guideline issued by the Center states that no matter what zone it is… from seven in the morning to seven in the morning, ordinary people will not be able to make any movement in the areas. However, this restriction has not been imposed on essential services and people associated with them. It has also been said that the local administration can issue necessary orders regarding the movement.
The guideline issued by the Center states that no matter what zone it is, people above 65 years of age, sick, pregnant women and children below 10 years will have to stay indoors. These people will be allowed to leave the house only after getting treatment or important work out of the areas.
Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan apprised the chief secretaries of all states and union territories of ways to mark green, orange and red zones. At the same time, he told what states should take care of to fight Kovid-19. The Health Secretary also told the states to understand the seriousness of the situation.
More than 200 corona infection cases in an area or more than 15 active cases per lakh population have been considered as serious. The number of people who lost their lives to illness or the confirmation rate of positive cases more than six percent should also be considered serious. He said that once the zone is determined, the implementation of the Containment Action Plan is the most important step.
The Health Secretary also said that marking the buffer zone within the Red and Orange zones was an important step towards fighting Kovid-19. Additional vigilance should also be done by marking some areas around all containment zones as buffer zones. The Health Secretary said that the Containment Action Plan can be considered successful only if there is no new case in the Containment Zone for 28 days.
