NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced the extension of the nationwide lockdown beyond May 17, when the current phase ends.
Signaling a departure from the three phases of the lockdown, Modi said new rules will apply in the next stage. With most chief ministers recommending the extension of restrictions in Covid-19 containment zones, lockdown 4.0 will have a new avatar to allow production and demand to revive.
“After talking to all the states, we have decided that there will be a lockdown extension, but it will be different from the previous ones. We will inform you about lockdown 4.0 before May 18,” he said. That’s when its duration will also be known.
The first phase of the lockdown was announced on March 24 for three weeks. In that phase, barring a handful of essential services, everything else was shut and movement of the public was severely curbed.
By the third extension, several activities and sectors were opened up, including factories and industries in areas outside municipal limits.
All the 733 districts in India were segregated into three zones — red, orange and green — depending on the viral load in these areas.