COVID-19 curbs to end on March 31; wearing masks, social distancing to remain: Centre

By Team Newsable | First Published Mar 23, 2022, 1:29 PM IST

Accordingly, after the expiry of the existing Ministry of Home Affairs orders dated February 25, 2022, no further order may be issued by the MHA.

The Ministry of Home Affairs on Wednesday issued an order stating, after two years, the Government of India has revoked provisions of the Disaster Management Act for Covid-19 containment measures.

The order copy signed by Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla reads that after taking into consideration the overall improvement in the situation and preparedness of the Government to deal with the pandemic, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has taken a decision that there may not be any further need to invoke the provisions of the DM Act for Covid containment measures.

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However, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) advisories on Covid containment measures, including the use of face masks and hand hygiene, will continue to guide the overall national response to the pandemic.

Accordingly, after the expiry of the existing Ministry of Home Affairs orders dated February 25, 2022, no further order may be issued by the MHA.

The Central government had on March 24, 2020 issued for the first time orders and guidelines under the Disaster Management Act, (DM Act) 2005 for the containment of Covid-19 in the country and these have been modified on various occasions.

In a communication to the chief secretaries of all states, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla said that over the last 24 months, significant capacities have been developed for various aspects of management of the pandemic, such as diagnostics, surveillance, contact tracing, treatment, vaccination, hospital infrastructure.

Also, the general public now has a much higher level of awareness on the COVID-appropriate behaviour, he said.

States and UTs have also developed their own capacities and systems and implemented their detailed State/UT specific plans for managing the pandemic, over the last seven weeks or so there has been a steep decline in the number of cases, it said.

The total caseload in the country stands at 23,913 only and the daily positivity rate has declined to 0.28 per cent. It is also worth mentioning that with the combined efforts, a total of 181.56 crore vaccine doses have been administered.

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