As India nears to end July month by witnessing the sharpest rises of COVID-19 cases, the Ministry of Home Affairs has, on Wednesday, framed the roadmap on how the nation will look like during August. The Ministry has issued the guidelines of what has become the third version, 'Unlock 3.0', of unlocking the lockdown in which it has poured major relaxations to the industries that were shut for nearly four months.

As part of the 'Unlock 3.0', the Center has tightened the restrictions in the COVID-19 containment zones across the country. According to the Home Ministry, the guidelines issued for the Unlock 3.0 will be in place till August 31. As part of the relaxations, the Center has permitted the resumptions of gyms and yoga institutes from August 5. These services were barred in March when the nationwide lockdown was imposed for the first time. 

Now, during the seventh phase of the lockdown, the Center has permitted the gyms and yoga centers to re-open their operations, which has brought a major relief for the gym owners and the livelihoods that rely on these services. The Home Ministry has also repealed the role of the night curfew, which earlier restricted the movements of people during night hours. 

In a major relaxation on the transportation front, the Center has clarified that no special permission, e-permit, and approval will be required for the inter-state movements. Earlier, it was mandated to obtain valid e-passes from the state governments to travel between the states, and along with that, the Center has removed the ban on the movement of persons and goods. 

According to the Home Ministry's guidelines, the inter-state and intra-state movements of people and goods will not be restricted and this relaxation would also apply for cross land-border trade under treaties with neighboring countries. By nodding for the resumptions for gyms and yoga centers, the Home Ministry said that the Union Health Ministry will be issuing a Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) concerning the physical distancing norms that need to be followed by these services to curb the spread.

On the other side, the Home Ministry hasn't issued consent to resume other recreational centers and educational institutions. According to its guidelines, cinema halls, auditoriums, theaters, parks, bars, assembly halls, shopping malls, and similar places of people gathering will continue to remain shut till August 31, so are the schools, colleges, and other educational institutions.

By stating that the political, sports, and entertainment events and religious functions and other large congregations will remain closed, the Home Ministry asserted that the resumption of these services will be decided later and separate guidelines will be issued for these resumptions. The Center also stated that the metro train and International Air travel of passengers will continue to shut down, except for the necessary travels allowed by the Home Ministry.

As far as the containment zones are concerned, the essential activities will only be permitted. These zones will be monitored and surveilled continuously and the unnecessary movement of people will be restricted, except for the movements of the essential goods and supplies and the movement of people for the emergency services. 

The containment zones will be mapped by the district authorities as per the guidelines of the Union Health Ministry and the government would carry out aggressive testing, intense contact tracing, door-to-door surveys in the containment zones to mitigate the virus spread. The lockdown in the containment zones will be in place till August 21 and the government has appealed to the people with comorbidities, geriatric people, pregnant women, and children below the age of 10 not to exit home unnecessarily. 

The shops are directed to maintain and ensure that the customers adhere to the social distancing norms and the Independence day celebrations will be permitted with social distancing and by following the health protocols like wearing masks. The Home Ministry said the new guidelines are based on the recommendations and feedback received from the state and UT governments and with consultation from the concerned central ministries.