Rajasthan & Kerala imposes complete lockdown

Due to the surging second wave of COVID-19, the Rajasthan Government has decided to impose a lock down in the state for two weeks and has suspended marriage functions till the 31st of May. The lock down will be effective from 5 AM on May 10th to 5 AM on the 24th of May. The home department has issued the fresh guidelines in this regard. Only registered marriages attended by not more than 11 people will be allowed till May 31. The order banned marriage functions, DJs and marriage processions. Marriage gardens, halls, hotels will be closed for marriage functions and owners will have to return the advance amount paid by the parties. Labourers working under NEGRA have to follow social distancing norms. All places of worship will remain closed. People have been requested to conduct religious rituals at home. It has also been decided to allow only one attendant in case of emergency with a COVID patient admitted to a hospital. Except for medical emergencies, no inter-district, inter-city, city to villages or villages to city travel will be allowed. All public transport including buses, tempos, tractors, jeeps will be off the roads. Only workers permitted will be allowed to load or unload inter state and intra-state goods.

In Kerala, complete lockdown will be imposed from Saturday till May 16. However, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has assured that the essential services will not be disrupted during the lockdown. The State government had released elaborate guidelines regarding the state wide lockdown . State and Central government offices, excluding those under essential services will remain closed from during lockdown. Weddings which have already been scheduled can be solemnized.  However, prior to the function, registration should be done in the COVID Jagratha Portal and the nearest police station should be informed.  Only 20 people are allowed to take part and COVID guidelines should be strictly followed.  In funeral rites and ceremonies, only 20 people are allowed.

In Madhya Pradesh, the government is launching a new scheme to provide free treatment to poor COVID patients. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said that under the scheme, the poor and common people of the state, including even the middle class, will be able to get free treatment for COVID-19 in the contracted private hospitals. Tests like CT scan, medicines, injections, oxygen etc. shall be made available free of cost. So far, 2 crore 42 lakh cards have been made under the Ayushman Bharat Yojana in the state, under which 88 percent of the population has been covered. All of them will be able to get free treatment for corona in government-contracted hospitals. District Collectors have been empowered to temporarily empanel private hospitals of their district under Ayushman Bharat Yojana.  The government has increased the rates of Ayushman Bharat package by 40 percent. The state government will give Rs 5000 as diagnostic advanced to every person who is receiving treatment under the scheme.

The Delhi Government has mandated a compulsory institutional quarantine of 14 days for people coming into the National Capital from Andhra Pradesh or Telangana.  In the latest order issued by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), it has been stated that people coming to Delhi by bus, train, flight, car, truck or any mode of transportation will have to mandatorily undergo 14 days of quarantine at an institutional or paid facility as a precaution. It said that the decision has been taken as a precautionary step against a new virulent strain of Covid-19 that has reportedly been found in these states. DDMA has however informed that those people who have been completely vaccinated with both doses and can show their certificate will be allowed to be on home quarantine for seven days on entering Delhi. It added, the same rule of 7-day quarantine applies for people who can show a negative RT-PCR report which is not older than 72 hours prior to the journey.