Call it Lockdown  5.0 or Unlock 1.0 , from June 1, the entire country is going to wear a different look from June 1. The MHA guidelines announced on Saturday night were unprecedented

The Centre on Saturday took an exit step from the 68-day nationwide Lockdown  to kickstart the economy. The  Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) declared that the restrictions will be limited to only containment zones up to 30 June and that the prohibited activities will be opened in a phased manner in areas outside these zones.

As part of phased opening of activities, religious places of worship for public, hotels, restaurants and other hospitality services, shopping malls outside containment zones have been allowed to reopen from 8 June.

There’s no restriction on inter-state, intra-state movement of people, goods and no separate permission required for such travels, said MHA .

However, based on assessment of situation, states, UTs may prohibit certain activities outside containment zones or impose restrictions, MHA stated in its latest guidelines.

However, if a State/ UT, based on reasons of public health and its assessment of the situation, proposes to regulate the movement of persons, it will give wide publicity in advance regarding the restrictions to be placed on such movement, and the related procedures to be followed,” said the MHA.

The guidelines will come into effect from June 1, 2020, and will be effective till June 30, 2020. The current phase of re-opening — Unlock 1.0 — will have an economic focus, said the MHA.

According to the latest guidelines, National Directives for Covid-19 management will continue to be followed throughout the country, with a view to ensure social distancing.The onus is on the states to decide on activities outside the containment zones.States and UTs, based on their assessment of the situation, may prohibit certain activities outside the containment zones, or impose restrictions as deemed necessary, the new guidelines say

According to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the total number of  COVID-19 cases in the country is 1,73,763, including 86,422 active cases. While 82,369 patients have recovered after treatment, 4,971 deaths due to the infection have been reported so far in the country.