Amid the spurt in COVID-19 cases around the nation, a new set of rules for ‘surveillance, containment, and caution’ was issued by Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to curb the spread. The new MHA guidelines will come into effect from Tuesday.

As per the new guidelines, the states and Union Territories have been given the permission to impose local restrictions such as night curfew. The states, however, cannot impose lockdown without consent from the Centre. The MHA has also banned the states from sealing their borders.

The MHA has allowed all activities outside Containment Zones, except the following:

· Cinema halls and theatres to function with up to 50 per cent seating capacity.

· Swimming pools will remain operational only for the training of sportspersons.

· International flights remain suspended.

· Social, religious, educational, cultural or religious gatherings is allowed with up to a maximum of 50 per cent of the hall capacity.

· Persons above 65 years of age, children below 10, persons with co-morbidities and pregnant women, are advised to stay at home.

TRAVELLING TO MAHARASHTRA? GET YOUR COVID TEST DONE

The new laws say that people travelling from Goa, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Delhi must carry RT-PCR COVID-19 test reports and all domestic passengers travelling via air from the aforementioned states shall also carry the RT-PCR negative test report presenting it on arrival at the airport.

The test should be fresh from the past 72 hours of travel, before arrival in Maharashtra. Also, those travelling via train need to produce COVID certificates before boarding or will have to test at the railway station.