New Delhi, November 25: The Centre on Wednesday issued fresh guidelines for "surveillance, containment and caution" against coronavirus (COVID-19), especially in containment zones. The new guidelines will be effective from December 1 and shall remain in force till December 31, 2020. In its guidelines, issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Centre asked states to strictly enforce containment measures, guidelines for various activities and COVID-appropriate behaviour. Night Curfew in Punjab: Complete Shutdown From 10 PM to 5 AM in All Towns and Cities From December 1, Fine For Flouting COVID-19 Guidelines Hiked to Rs 1,000

"There shall be strict perimeter control to ensure that there is no movement of people in or out of these zones, except for medical emergencies and for maintaining supply of essential goods and services. There shall be intensive house-to-house surveillance by surveillance teams formed for the purpose. Quick isolation of COVID-19 patients shall be ensured in treatment facilities/ home (subject to fulfilling the home isolation guidelines)," said the guidelines.

States must ensure that only essential activities are taking place in containment zones, the guidelines added. The Centre also permitted states and UTs to impose local restrictions necessary to contain the coronavirus spread. However, there shall be no restriction on inter-state and intra-state movement of persons and goods including those for cross land-border trade under Treaties with neighbouring countries, according to the guidelines.

All activities have been permitted outside Containment Zones, except for the following, which have been permitted with certain restrictions:

  • International air travel of passengers, as permitted by MHA.

  • Cinema halls and theatres, with upto 50 percent capacity.

  • Swimming pools, only for training of sportspersons.

  • Exhibition halls, only for business to business (B2B) purposes.

  • Social/ religious/ sports/ entertainment/ educational/ cultural/ religious gatherings, with upto a maximum of 50 percent of the hall capacity, with a ceiling of 200 persons in closed spaces; and keeping of the size of the ground/ space in view, in open spaces.

With 44,376 new cases of coronavirus infections, India's total cases reached 92,22,217 on Wednesday. According to the data released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, 481 new deaths occurred due to the deadly virus in the last 24 hours taking the toll to 1,34,699.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 25, 2020 04:51 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).