Schools, colleges, cinema halls to remain closed till Sept 30; govt announces new guidelines under ‘Unlock 4’

The Ministry of Home Affairs, govt. of India, on Saturday announced new guidelines under ‘Unlock 4’, which will be in force till September 30.

As per the new guidelines, schools and colleges will remain closed till September 30. However, states and union territories may allow upto 50 percent of teaching and non-teaching staff to be called to the school for online teaching-related work. This will be only allowed for areas outside the containment zones, and will come in from September 21.

The metro services, which were suspended since March 22 will now be allowed to operate from September 7. The same will be operated in a graded manner, with the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to be issued by the health ministry.

Apart from the resumption of Metro services, public gatherings including social, academic, sports, entertainment, cultural and religious will be permitted from September 21 with a limit of 100 persons. Mandatory wearing of face masks, social distancing, provision for thermal scanning and hand wash or sanitisers will be required at such gatherings.

There shall be no restriction on inter-State and intra-State movement of persons and goods. No separate permission/ approval/ e-permit will be required for such movements:

While cinema halls, swimming pools and entertainment parks are yet to resume functioning, open-air theatres will also be permitted to open from September 21.

National Directives for COVID19 management shall continue to be followed throughout country, while ensure social distancing. Shops need to maintain adequate physical distancing among customers. MHA will monitor the effective implementation of National Directives.

State/ UT Governments shall not impose any local lockdown (State/ District/ sub-division/City/ village level), outside the containment zones, without prior consultation with the Central Government.

The GOI has also announced that lockdown shall continue to be implemented strictly in the Containment Zones till 30th September