Delhi, Mumbai, UP, Maharashtra opening from today. Unlock rules and guidelines

Unlock rules and guidelines: Delhi, Mumbai, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Leh are easing up Covid induced restrictions from today, (Monday, June 7). The announcements were made in the last couple of days as the active infection cases dipped further in the past week. However, these states will still be under partial lockdown and only some relaxations have been made keeping the economy in mind. Delhi will next review the Covid situation on June 14 while Maharashtra on June 15. The Uttar Pradesh government has lifted curfew in all districts except for three — Meerut, Saharanpur and Gorakhpur. With this, curfew has been lifted in 72 of 75 districts of UP. Delhi unlock guidelines from June 7 Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday extended the ongoing lockdown but announced some more relaxations. From Monday, he said, markets and malls would be allowed to open on an odd-even basis from 10 AM to 8 PM. The Delhi Metro will operate at 50 per cent capacity, government and private offices will be allowed to reopen with 50 per cent staff. Delhi began its 'unlock' process on May 31, when it allowed only construction and factory activities. Maharashtra unlock guidelines from June 7 Maharashtra is under lockdown till June 15. However, it will begin a five-level unlock process from Monday. According to a government notification, cities and districts which have a positivity rate of less than five per cent and the oxygen bed occupancy of less than 25 per cent will open up completely. But in places where the positivity rate is more than five per cent and oxygen bed occupancy is over 25 per cent, restrictions with varying degrees will remain effective. The state government has, however, planned different levels of restrictions based on the infection positivity rate and bed occupancy. For instance, places which have a positivity rate between 5 and 10 per cent will have lesser restrictions than, say, places with over 10 per cent positivity rate. Same goes with bed occupancy. At places where the positivity rate is more than 20 per cent and the oxygen bed capacity is more than 75 per cent, only essential shops are allowed to open till 4 PM and office attendance will be 15 percent. BMC Guidelines for Mumbai from June 7 The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Saturday released detailed guidelines for the next week beginning June 7. The civic body said that the city had fallen under level-3 of the unlock plan of Maharashtra. It said restaurants, shops selling non- essential items and public places will reopen from Monday but malls, theatres and multiplexes will continue to remain shut. Local trains, considered the lifeline of the maximum city, will remain available only for specific categories. A day earlier, the government had stated that local trains would remain available for "medical, few essentials and women". It, however, had authorised the BMC to put additional restrictions if required. Municipal corporations and districts with a positivity rate between 5 and 10 per cent and occupancy of oxygen beds over 40 per cent are categorised under level 3. Leh: Gradual unlock from June 7 The Leh administration has announced gradual unlocking after a month-long curfew. Leh District Disaster Management Authority chairman Shrikant Suse on Sunday issued new guidelines to start gradual unlocking from June 7 till June 14. The administration has allowed commercial activities covering almost all segments. However, public transport, private offices, salons, barber shops, beauty parlours, spas and gyms would continue to remain closed till further orders. Development activities and construction work where labourers reside on the work site have also been allowed. For restaurants, only home delivery service would be allowed on weekdays, while the hotels would be allowed to operate dine-in services with a 30 per cent seating capacity for in-house guests. Non-essential vehicular movement would be allowed on odd/even systems with 50 per cent seating capacity. Besides, Kargil DDMA chairman Santosh Sukhadeve issued an order extending the curfew in the district till 7 am on June 14. UP lifts curfew from all districts from June 7 Uttar Pradesh has lifted Covid restrictions in all districts except in Meerut, Saharanpur and Gorakhpur. Active cases of the coronavirus are above 600 in Meerut, Saharanpur and Gorakhpur. On Saturday, the state government extended relaxations in the curfew to Bareilly and Bulandshahr districts from June 7, allowing shops and markets outside the containment zones to open for five days a week. However, the night curfew and weekend curfew will continue to remain. Haryana extends lockdown with some relaxations from June 7 Haryana has extended the lockdown by another week till June 14, while easing several restrictions that were in place earlier. Further relaxations regarding opening of shops and shopping malls have been given. Religious places have also been allowed to open with 21 people at a time, corporate offices have also been permitted to open with 50 per cent staff and gatherings of up to 21 people have been allowed at weddings, funerals and cremations. Restaurants and bars, including in hotels and malls, are allowed to open from 10 am to 8 pm with 50 per cent seating capacity. Home delivery from hotels, restaurants and fast food joints will be permitted till 10 pm. Shops other than the stand-alone ones are allowed to open from 9 am to 6 pm (earlier, it was from 9 am to 3 pm) following the odd-even policy -- those with odd numbers will open on odd dates and those with even numbers on even dates. Malls, which were last week allowed to open from 10 am to 6 pm, can now remain open till 8 pm. For gatherings other than weddings, funerals and cremations, the maximum number of people allowed is 50. For gatherings of more than 50 people, prior permission from the deputy commissioner concerned shall be required. Club houses, restaurants and bars at golf courses are allowed to open with 50 per cent seating capacity from 10 am to 8 pm. Uttarakhand extends lockdown till June 15 The Uttarakhand government has extended the restrictions till June 15. As per new lockdown guidelines, general stores will be open from 8 am to 1 pm between June 9 and June 14. The government also decided to open retail shops for two days in this week, the liquor shops will be opened for three 3 days. On June 9 and June 14, grocery shops will be opened from 8 am to 1 pm, while on June 9, 11, and 14, liquor shops will be opened from 8 am to 1 pm. Stationery and book shops will also be opened on 9 and 14 June. How other states are moving Bihar has extended the lockdown till June 8 Rajasthan has extended the lockdown till June 8 Kerala has extended the lockdown till June 9 with some concessions. Telangana has extended the lockdown till June 9. Lakshadweep has extended the lockdown till June 10. Andhra Pradesh has extended curfew till June 10. Punjab has extended the restrictions till June 10 Jharkhand has extended the lockdown till June 10. Nagaland has extended the lockdown till June 11. Tamil Nadu has extended the lockdown till June 14. Karnataka has announced an extension of lockdown till June 14. Goa government has extended the curfew till June 14. West Bengal has extended restrictions till June 15. Assam has extended the restrictions till June 15 Madhya Pradesh has extended curfew with eased restrictions till June 15.

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Fresh Vande Bharat flights announced by India amid pandemic from Israel, Singapore and more countries

India has announced fresh Vande Bharat flights to repatriate stranded Indians from abroad just like last year amid COVID-19 pandemic. The rescue mission was launched last year and it helped a number of people in bringing and sending them home. Central government has decided to operate the Vande Baharat flights for those who are stuck outside due to the recent lockdown. The Ministry of Civil Aviation is now planning an evacuation drive wherein national airlines Air India will fly to countries to bring back Indian citizens home. Given the current pandemic and lockdown situation, a number of Indians are stranded in other countries and struggling to come back. As of now, the aviation ministry is planning to operate Vande Bharat flights from June to October 31. A roster has been prepared and shared online by Air India, mentioning dates, timings, departure and arrival of these flights from various countries including Singapore, Israel, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Italy, to name a few. According to civil aviation data, nearly 8.9 million Indian nationals have been brought back from abroad till now.

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Important announcement by RBI for hotels, tourism and aviation sector in monetary policy

In order to mitigate the adverse impact of the second wave of the pandemic on certain contact-intensive sectors, a separate liquidity window of ₹15,000 crores is being opened till March 31, 2022 with tenors of up to three years at the repo rate, the RBI governor said on Friday while announcing the monetary policy. Announcing the on-tap Liquidity Window for Contact-intensive Sectors, he said that banks can provide support to hotels and restaurants, tourism, aviation support services and other services under this programme. Under the scheme, banks can provide fresh lending support to hotels and restaurants; tourism – travel agents, tour operators and adventure/heritage facilities; aviation ancillary services – ground handling and supply chain; and other services that include private bus operators, car repair services, rent-a-car service providers, event/conference organizers, spa clinics, and beauty parlours/salons. ''By way of an incentive, banks will be permitted to park their surplus liquidity up to the size of the loan book created under this scheme with the Reserve Bank under the reverse repo window at a rate which is 25 bps lower than the repo rate or, termed in a different way, 40 bps higher than the reverse repo rate,'' Das said. Hotel stocks like Indian Hotels, Lemon Tree Hotels surged after the announcement of the liquidity measures by RBI. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has left the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 4%, maintaining an accommodative stance as the economy faces the heat of the second Covid wave. This is the sixth time in a row that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) headed by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das has maintained the status quo.

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Good News: Gulf Countries Start Flight Operations From Vijayawada Airport | Details Here

At this pandemic time, here comes a piece of good news for the air travellers. As per a report by Deccan Chronicle, the Vijayawada International Airport has resumed operation of international flights to the Gulf countries such as Dubai, Kuwait, Muscat. Moreover, the airport has also resumed flight operations to Singapore from Wednesday after a gap of nearly two months since April 3. The flights from these Gulf nations were supposed to arrive at the airport on Tuesday itself, it was, however, cancelled at the last minute and on Wednesday, an international flight from Dubai carrying 68 passengers including children, arrived at Vijayawada International Airport. Notably, the flight arrived at the airport at about 6 PM and departed with a few passengers bound to Mumbai after some time. As per latest updates, for the whole month of June, the airport authorities have scheduled arrival and departure of both international and domestic flights at the airport. Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Vijayawada International Airport Director G Madhusudhana Rao said that the airport had urged the authorities to suspend operation of international flights for two months for the developmental works at the airport. He said the airport, however, has resumed international flights from Wednesday in addition to operation of both scheduled and unscheduled including domestic and international flights. Earlier this week, Netherlands has lifted the ban on passenger flights from India and started the flight operations. However, many countries are yet to open their borders for travellers from India. On the other hand, UAE flag carrier Emirates has recently announced a further extension of its passenger flights from India until June 30 in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic situation in the South Asian country.

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Indonesia to re-open borders for tourism next month

Indonesia plans to re-open borders in July 2021, with destinations including Bali, Batam and Bintan serving as ‘locomotive’ regions to kickstart tourism, said the country’s President Joko Widodo. In preparation, the government has carried out a widespread vaccination program for targeted groups, including the tourism workforce. In addition, the government has also initiated the Cleanliness, Health, Safety, and Environmental Sustainability (CHSE) certification programme throughout the tourism sector in Indonesia. Indonesia announced at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) Dubai 2021, the leading global event for the Middle East’s travel industry that it is looking to partially re-open its borders to international visitors. On behalf of the minister of tourism and creative economy of Indonesia (MoTCE), deputy minister for tourism marketing, Nia Niscaya, signed a memorandum of cooperation (MoC) between the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy Republic of Indonesia and Emirates Airlines during ATM 2021. The cooperation aims to boost marketing activities overseas, especially in Dubai. Middle East travellers have long been a key market for Indonesian tourism destinations. In 2019, the Middle East recorded a significant increase in arrivals to Indonesia, registering 263,923 visitors (27.88% higher than 2018).

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India expects countries to ease travel restriction on Indians as COVID-19 situation normalises: MEA

India expects countries to ease travel restriction on Indians as the COVID-19 situation normalises in the country said the Ministry of External Affairs(MEA) During a weekly press briefing, MEA spokesperson Arnidam Bagchi said: " We expect countries to ease travel restrictions on Indians as the situation normalises, some countries have started, more should follow" In the wake of the second wave of COVID-19, several countries imposed travel restrictions on Indian travellers. These include the United Kingdom, Canada, United States, Europe, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Thailand and Sri Lanka among others. Several countries have recently relaxed tourist visa rules for Indians including the Maldives, Nepal and the UAE. On the query of the World Health Organisation undertaking a global study into the origin of the COVID-19 virus, the MEA spokesperson said it an "important first step" and sought international cooperation for further studies.

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