Notification from the District Collectors office today has given the guidelines for Unlock 4 in Udaipur district.

As per the notification, containment areas have been defined as those where recent COVID cases have been found. Those areas which were under prohibitory orders, will remain so as per the schedule. No relaxations will be allowed in these areas.

Guidelines for Educational Institutes

• Schools and Colleges and tuitions centers will remain closed till September 30.
• Students of Class 9-12 will be allowed to visit their school to meet teachers and clear doubts, from 21 September onwards.
• 50% teaching and non teaching staff will be permitted in schools from 21 September.
• Guidelines and SOP for schools will be issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in due course and schools have to strictly adhere to protocol.
• ITI, National Skill Development institutes and such will be allowed to function from 21 September as per the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) that will be laid out in due course.
• Institutes of higher education will be allowed to invite PhD scholars and those researchers who need to do laboratory work, from 21 September.

Large gatherings

• All social, political, religious, sports, entertainment, academic and cultural events will be allowed from 21 September, with the express permission of the Additional District Magistrate. The total number of people who can attend will be limited to 50.
• Funeral participation will be increased to 50 persons from 21 September.
• Religious centers of worship will be allowed to operate in rural areas, with a limitation of 50 people at one time in the premises and with a distance of 6 ft between each person.
• Social distancing measures, masks, sanitizers, thermal scanning will be mandatory at these gathering.

Notification issued from the Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's office today read that lockdown will remain in place in containment areas for another month till 30 September. The relaxation on open air theatres, as per MHA GoI guidelines will be effected from September 21 onwards.

Intra state travel is already permitted without any restriction. However, with complete relaxation of interstate travel, Udaipur's borders with Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh will see increased traffic and the risk of infection from incoming traffic will increase tremendously.

The District Administration has been handed the responsibility of demarcating the containment zones under guidelines of the MoHFW, GoI. The objective of the containment guidelines will be to effectively break the chain of transmission.

As far as Udaipur is concerned, prohibitory orders are in place in very small pockets spread across the district. The prohibitory orders do not restrict any mohalla or lane or bylane. The house where the COVID patient is found, has restrictions around it, that too nominal. There is no control as was there earlier, related to the movement of people near the containment area.

With the number of cases rising exponentially, what does the Unlock 4 relaxations have in store for the City of Lakes? Unless the public adheres to social distancing norms effectively, the number of cases will keep on increasing. UNLOCK 4 guidelines apparently have left the precautions against the COVID pandemic in the hands of the people.