India COVID Cases Escalate While Government Loosens Lockdown
As of today, India stands as number seven out of the most hit countries due to COVID-19. The number of reported cases so far is 198,370 with a death toll of 5,608 people. The recovery report of India COVID cases has improved and 95,754 people are already free from the virus. However, the government is loosening lockdown rules even though the number of daily cases keeps escalating.
India COVID cases increase with strict lockdown
From today, the country is loosening lockdown rules and by June 8 hotels, restaurants, shopping malls, and religious places will be open to the public. However, schools and colleges will not reopen before July. Containment zones will also remain closed until recovery cases go up.
The government is imposing a three-phase plan to see how things work out. However, the plan was levied on the day the country reported the highest jump of more than 8,000 cases. Due to India’s large population of more than 1.3 billion people, the chances of coronavirus escalating seem clear after loosening lockdown.
India maintained strict lockdown rules for almost 70 days, but the number of cases kept increasing. However, it has cost a huge price in terms of economy and millions of informal workers leaving cities to go back to their rural villages after losing jobs. Many migrant workers had to walk back on foot due to the lack of transportation and mishandling by the authorities.
Health officials have informed that the lockdown will continue is some of the urban places due to the increasing number of coronavirus cases. More than 80% of active cases are from the states of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh. The capital city of Delhi is also one of the worst-hit due to the virus. More than 60% of the total cases are from Mumbai, Delhi, and Ahmedabad.
Three-phase plan
Rules of the three-phase plan include:
- Phase 1 – the opening of shopping malls, worship places, restaurants, hotels, and hospitality services starting from June 8. They will release guidelines related to social distancing.
- Phase 2 – reopening of schools and colleges in July after consulting with chief ministers of all states
- Phase 3 – starting of international travel, metro railway, cinema halls, theaters, gyms, and others.
There will be a night curfew to remain between 9 pm and 5 am, instead of 7 pm to 7 am as of now.
The rules are not the same for containment zones where the virus is spreading much more than other places. Such zones will remain completely closed until further notice.
The states of Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu to remain closed as per state authorities. The rate of infection has increased by three times in Maharashtra and the worst hit is the financial capital of Mumbai.
People will be restricted to move between containment zones while the rest will function generally. However, there are no restrictions on interstate travel. June is supposedly going to be a difficult month for the country. The phase 2 and 3 plans will only be levied after phase 1 is in control.