A critical phase

While business opens, states must be ready for a spike in Covid cases

Lockdown 4.0 may not live up to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promise of being “totally different” from the previous ones but it marks an improvement over the earlier positions, when everything was dictated by the Centre. In an unspoken acknowledgement that the spread of Covid-19 is asymmetric within the infinite variety of India’s geography and urban sprawl, the latest lockdown guidelines have chosen to set out the broad parameters till May 31 and left the details to the states. The fresh rules allow for a considerable relaxation in non-containment zones with all markets (but not malls), offices, industries, and businesses