COVID-19 lockdown in India

On 23 March 2020, the Government of India under Prime Minister Narendra

Modi ordered a nationwide lockdown for 21 days, limiting movement of the entire
1.38 billion or 138 Crore population of India as a preventive measure against
the COVID-19 pandemic in India.[1] It was ordered after a 14-hour voluntary public
curfew on 22 March, followed by enforcement of a series of regulations in the country's
COVID-19 affected regions.[2][3] The lockdown was placed when the number of confirmed
positive coronavirus cases in India was approximately 500. [1] Observers stated that the
lockdown had slowed the growth rate of the pandemic by 6 April to a rate of doubling
every six days,[4] and by 18 April, to a rate of doubling every eight days.[5] As the end of
the first lockdown period approached, state governments and other advisory
committees recommended extending the lockdown.[6] The governments
of Odisha and Punjab extended the state lockdowns to 1 May.[7] Maharashtra,
Karnataka, West Bengal and Telangana followed suit.[8][9] On 14 April, Prime minister
Narendra Modi extended the nationwide lockdown until 3 May, with a conditional
relaxations after 20 April for the regions where the spread had been contained or was
minimal.[10]
On 1 May, the Government of India extended the nationwide lockdown further by two
weeks until 17 May. The Government divided all the districts into three zones based on
the spread of the virus—green, red and orange—with relaxations applied accordingly.
[11]
 On 17 May, the lockdown was further extended till 31 May by the National Disaster
Management Authority.[12]
On 30 May, it was announced that lockdown restrictions were to be lifted from then
onwards, while the ongoing lockdown would be further extended till 30 June for only the
containment zones. Services would be resumed in a phased manner starting from 8
June. It was termed as "Unlock 1.0".[13] Modi later clarified that the lockdown phase in the
country was over and that 'unlock' had already begun. [14]
The second phase of unlock, Unlock 2.0, was announced for the period of 1 to 31 July,
with more ease in restrictions.[15] Unlock 3.0 was announced for August.[16] Similarly,
Unlock 4.0 was announced for September[17] and Unlock 5.0 for the month of October.
[18]
 In the same way, Unlock 6.0 was announced for the month of November, [19] Unlock
7.0 was announced for the month of December,[20] Unlock 8.0 was announced for the
month of January, and Unlock 9.0 was announced for the month of February. Unlock
10.0 was announced for the month of March. Unlock 11.0 was announced for the month
of April

Contents

 1Background
o 1.1Janata Curfew
 2Prohibitions
o 2.1Relaxations
 3Timeline
o 3.1Lockdown
 3.1.1Phase 1 (25 March – 14 April)
 3.1.2Phase 2 (15 April – 3 May)
 3.1.3Phase 3 (4–17 May)
 3.1.4Phase 4 (18–31 May)
o 3.2Unlock
 3.2.1Unlock 1.0 (1–30 June)
 3.2.2Unlock 2.0 (1–31 July)
 3.2.3Unlock 3.0 (1–31 August)
 3.2.4Unlock 4.0 (1–30 September)
 3.2.5Unlock 5.0 (1–31 October)
 3.2.6Unlock 6.0 (1–30 November)
 4Impact
o 4.1Economic Impact
o 4.2Migrant workers
o 4.3Food supply chain
o 4.4Relief
o 4.5Impact on environment
o 4.6Effectiveness
 5Reception
 6See also
 7Notes
 8References

Background[edit]
Main article: COVID-19 pandemic in India

Modi's address to the nation prior to the lockdown.

The Government of India confirmed India's first case of Coronavirus disease 2019 on 30
January 2020 in the state of Kerala, when a university student from Wuhan travelled
back to the state.[21] As the number of confirmed COVID-19 positive cases closed 500,
Modi on 19 March, asked all citizens to observe 'Janata Curfew' (people's curfew) on
Sunday, 22 March.[22] At the end of the curfew, Modi stated: "Janata Curfew is just the
beginning of a long battle against COVID-19". Following this, while addressing the
nation second time on 24 March, he announced the nationwide lockdown from midnight
of that day, for a period of 21 days.[23] He said that the only solution to control the spread
of coronavirus was to break the cycle of transmission through social distancing.[24] He
also added that the lockdown would be enforced more strictly than the Janata Curfew. [25]