When the COVID-19 cases started to surge in the country, the Indian government decided to lock its population inside their houses to arrest the spread of the virus.
In March, PM Modi came up with a nationwide lockdown on March 24. The lockdown was later extended. However, after that government started to ease the restrictions and came up with Unlock guidelines on 4 occasions. Now the Union Home Ministry is slated to come out with fresh guidelines for October.
Here is what we may expect from the Centre's Unlock 5.0 guidelines
In September guidelines, schools were not allowed to open, now ahead of Unlock 5.0 it remains a question whether they will be allowed to open or not.
In the Unlock 4 guidelines, other public places like malls, salons, restaurants, gyms were allowed to operate with restrictions. However, cinema halls, swimming pools, entertainment parks were not permitted to operate.
Now it remains the question whether the government will allow the cinema halls to reopen from October or not. In Unlock 4, only open-air theatres were allowed to kickstart operations from September 21.
Recently, few reports claimed that the Ministry of Home Affairs has allowed the reopening of theatres from October 1 with strict regulations in place. However, the claim was debunked by the Press Information Bureau.
"Claim: A Media report has claimed that Home Ministry has ordered reopening of cinema halls across the country from 1st October with the imposition of strict regulations. #PIBFactCheck: This claim is #Fake. No decision has been taken by @HMOIndia (sic)," read the tweet by PIB.
What was allowed in Unlock 4?
Metro rails started operating from September 7 in a graded manner.
Social, academic, sports, entertainment, cultural, religious, political functions and other congregations were permitted with a ceiling of 100 persons, with effect from 21st September 2020.
Open-air theatres were permitted to open with effect from September 21.
In areas outside of containment zones, students of classes 9 to 12 were also permitted to visit their schools on a voluntary basis, for taking guidance from their teachers. This will be subject to the written consent of their parents/ guardians.
