The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had issued an order giving guidelines for surveillance, containment and precaution, which will be effective from December 1, 2020. These guidelines will remain in force till December 31, 2020. States and Union Territories (UTs), as per their evaluation of the situation would impose local restrictions to control the spread of COVID-19.

Police, municipal and local district authorities will be responsible for confirming that the given containment measures are strictly being followed.

The measure of surveillance and containment are as follows:

1. States/UTs should ensure careful demarcation of containment zones by the district authorities. The list of containment zones will be notified by the States/ UTson the websites.
2. As prescribed by MoHFW, containment measures, shall be followed within the demarcated containment zones.
3. Only important activities will be allowed in the Containment Zones.
4. A strict perimeter control to ensure that there will be no movement of people in or out of the containment zones, except for medical emergencies and to maintain the supply of required goods and services.
5. An intensive house-to-house surveillance by surveillance teams should be done.
6. Proper testing should be performed according to the prescribed protocol.
7. Listing of contacts to be carried out for all persons who are found positive, with their tracking, identification, quarantine period and follow-up of close contacts for minimum 14 days.
8. Immediate isolation of COVID-19 patients shall be carried out in treatment facilities/homes.
9. Necessary clinical interventions shall be administered, as prescribed.
10. Police and municipal authorities along with local district authorities will be responsible to guarantee that the prescribed containment measures are followed strictly.

State and UT governments should take the mandatory steps to encourage COVID-19 appropriate behavior. They should also make sure of strict implementation of wearing face masks, following hand hygiene and social distancing.

In order to enforce the main necessity of wearing of face masks, States and UTs should impose fines on persons who are not wearing face masks in public and work places. For social distancing in crowded places, such as markets, weekly bazaars and public transport, MoHFW will soon issue SOPs, which should be strictly enforced by States and UTs.

National orders for coronavirus management must be followed throughout the country. All activities are allow able outside Containment Zones, except for the following with certain restrictions:

• International airways travel of passengers, as allowed by MHA
• Cinema halls and theatres, with 50% capacity
• Swimming pools shall only be for training of sports people
• Exhibition halls are only for business to business purposes
• Social/ religious/ entertainment/ sports /educational/ culturalgatherings, with a maximum of 50% of the hall capacity in a ceiling of 200 people in closed spaces and keeping the size of the groundin view, in open spaces.
• According to the situation, State/ UT Governments can reduce the ceiling to 100 people or less, especially in closed spaces.

Local restrictions are as follows:

• Based on the situation, States and UTs shall impose local restrictions to contain the spread of COVID-19, including night curfew. Without prior consultation with the Centre, they shall not enforce any local lockdown outside the containment zones.
• States and UTs should enforce social distancing in offices. Cities, where the weekly Case Positivity Rate areabove 10%, States and UTs concerned should consider employing staggered office timings.
• No restriction on inter-state and intra-state movement of individuals and goods. No separate approval or permission ore-permit required for such movements.

Source: DNA