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All activities banned earlier will open up in phases, the home ministry said in new guidelines,
Strict orders enforced on March 25, when the country went into a total lockdown to break the chain of transmission of the virus, will be limited to containment zones – areas sealed because of a large number of COVID-19 cases – at least till June 30.

Night curfew will stay, but timings will be changed to 9 pm-5am from the existing 7 pm-7am.

Cinemas, schools and international flights will reopen after an assessment in the next few weeks. A decision on reopening schools and colleges will be taken in July after consultations with states, parents and other stake-holders.

There will be no restrictions on the movement of people or goods within states and between states and significantly, interstate passes will no longer be needed. But states can decide whether to regulate movement based on their own.

“The current phase of re-opening, Unlock 1, will have an economic focus,” said the government, a day after GDP data showed the slowest pace of growth in 11 years and a big impact of the lockdown on the latest quarter.

International flights, metros, cinemas, gyms, swimming pools, entertainment parks, theatres and bars will also be allowed after more consultations in June “based on the assessment of the situation”, said the ministry.

Social, political, religious, cultural and other gatherings also stay banned for now, given the unabated need for physical distancing to check the infection.

The phased exit plan comes amid grim predictions of a first full-year contraction of the economy in more than four decades even as the country battles a spurt in coronavirus cases. India has the ninth highest number of virus cases in the world, with over 1.7 lakh infected and close to 5,000 deaths.

Some 12 crore people lost jobs in April, according to estimates by the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy.
Attempting to revive economic activity, the government has been easing out of lockdown curbs since April 20 but travel restrictions and the mass movement of migrant workers pose a big challenge. Domestic flights and train services restarted earlier this month.

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“We find ourselves today in an unprecedented situation where we are compelled to make some difficult decisions which have massive financial implications on our businesses but we are doing this in the larger benefit for our teams, our guests and our communities,” the industry body said in a statement.

However, NRAI has not taken a call on stopping deliveries and has said that restuarants can deliver food as long as they follow the current global practice of contact-less delivery.

NRAI further added that many employees use public transportation to commute, and are at increased risk of contracting the virus, and becoming carriers of the same.

However, restaurants incur fixed operating costs — regardless of whether they are in operation or not, such as rent, taxes etc., which also makes temporarily halting operations a costly affair.

For this, NRAI said that they wish to work with the landlords, government departments, financial institutions and to tide over and mitigate losses. “This is an extraordinary situation and beyond our control and we expect support such as converting fixed rentals to variable revenue share, allowing input tax credit on GST, moratorium on loan repayment, waiver of interest, reduction on energy costs, deferred payment of license fee and taxes will go a long way in curtailing our astronomical losses.” NRAI said.

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