Centre allows selective shops to open; Punjab yet to decide

In a major relief to shopkeepers and the general public, the Centre has allowed all the neighbourhood shops to open, but with conditions. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in a late-night directed to exempt all the shops under Shops and Establishment Act of the respective State/UTs, including shops in residential complexes and market complexes, except the shops in multi-brand & single-brand malls, outside the limits of Municipal Corporations and municipalities from revised consolidated lockdown restrictions. Meanwhile, the 50 percent strength of workers with wearing of masks and social distancing is mandatory. MHA also issued a clarification on order allowing the opening of shops. MHA stated that "In rural areas, all shops, except those in shopping malls are allowed to open. In urban areas, all standalone shops, neighbourhood shops & shops in residential complexes are allowed to open". These shops will not be permitted to open in areas, whether rural or urban, which are declared as containment zones by respective States/ UTs. However, the Punjab government is yet to take a call on these directives, State Special Chief Secretary KBS Sidhu said in a tweet. He said in a tweet: "So, this seems to be good news about some shops being allowed to open by the Government of India." "This does not automatically apply to Punjab, where restrictions have been imposed under section 144 CrPC. Please wait for a formal announcement by the Punjab Government," he added. https://twitter.com/kbssidhu1961/status/1253877598251134977?s=20 Meanwhile, KBS Sidhu suggested that "We should do the surveillance even in the areas from which no case reported so that before May 3, we have a good idea about the situation." "Testing for surveillance needs to be improved by including cases of SARI from Government and private hospitals, ILI cases from flu corners, HCWs working in high-risk areas, ILI from daily house-to-house surveillance in hotspot containment zones & buffer zones," he added. Also Read | Banking sector declared as public utility service for six months Furthermore, he said that "The testing capacity of virus testing NP/OP swabs has been increased. Now, about 1200 tests can be done every day, DMC has also started testing." https://www.facebook.com/ptcnewsonline/videos/1163219470685621/ -PTC News