As speculated, the Indian government has announced that the nationwide lockdown has been extended for two more weeks beyond May 3 and the extended spell of the lockdown would come into effect on May 4, 2020, and would stay until May 17, 2020, as the country has been aiming to stem the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic. 

The order of extending the lockdown has come two days before the spell of the current lockdown ends. According to the press release issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, the government of India has issued an order of extending the lockdown for two more weeks beyond May 3 under the Disaster Management Act, 2005. The decision was taken after a comprehensive review of the COVID-19 situations in the country. 

Ministry of Home Affairs issues order under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 to further extend the Lockdown for a further period of two weeks beyond May 4: MHA pic.twitter.com/Cw4bkdMTFU

— ANI (@ANI) May 1, 2020

The lockdown has extended till May 17, 2020, and the extension has come amid the nationwide speculations on whether the Center would extend the lockdown. The press release stated that the Home Ministry has also issued new guidelines to regulate different activities in this period based on the risks profiling of the districts of the country into Red zones, which are hotspots districts, Orange zones, and Green zones. The guidelines have permitted considerable relaxations in the districts falling in the orange and green zones. 

The decision of extending the lockdown has come hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi convened a meet with Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal. Most of the medical experts have earlier suggested extending the lockdown for at least two more weeks to contain the spread of the virus. 

The Home Ministry is yet to roll out fresh guidelines on how the extended lockdown would be dealing with the fight against the virus as people are preparing to get settled down for the unprecedented experiment. The press release has signaled that the relaxations will be given for the districts under orange and green zones. However, the ministry hasn't divulged the guidelines on resuming the operations to revive the ailing economy. 

According to the order, the transportation channels including air, rail, metro, and inter-state movement by roads would remain suspended across the country and it would be applicable for every zone. The functionings of schools, colleges, and other educational and training institutions would remain closed.

The hospitality services and recreational centers including hotels, restaurants, malls, shopping complexes, cinema halls, places of large gatherings, places of worship, and religious places have been barred from resuming the operations. The Home Ministry said that the movement of people by air, rail, and road would be permitted for selected purposes consented by the ministry. This has been the second extension for the nationwide lockdown that was imposed on March 24. Earlier, it was extended till May 3 from its first deadline of April 14.

Also read: How important May month is for India in its fight against COVID-19?