Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. We hope you are staying home and staying safe. Here are the big stories that you need to follow today: Lockdown Extended The national lockdown will be extended by a further two weeks after May 4. However, under this broad umbrella policy, there will be some relaxations, based on the classification of the country’s 733 districts into Red Zones (hotspots) where all restrictions will continue, and Green and Orange Zones where there will be considerable relaxations. “After a comprehensive review, and in view of the lockdown measures having led to significant gains in the COVID-19 situation in the country, we are extending the lockdown for a further period of two weeks effective May 4,” said an order from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued under the Disaster Management Act, 2005. The Health Ministry had earlier divided the country into 130 Red-Zone districts, 284 Orange-Zone districts, and 319 Green-Zone districts. All the metro cities, including Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Chennai have been categorised as Red Zones. In all zones, the Home Ministry said, persons above 65 years of age, persons with co-morbidities, pregnant women, and children below the age of 10 years, shall stay at home, except for meeting essential requirements and for health purposes. The MHA order further stated that movement of individuals, for all non-essential activities, shall remain strictly prohibited between 7 pm to 7 am. Containment Zones The most sensitive areas of the country (where threat of rapid COVID-19 spread is highest) that fall within the Red and Orange Zones, have been designated as Containment Zones. The containment areas would be defined by the respective District Administrations, taking into account the total number of active cases, their geographical spread, and the need to have well-demarcated perimeters from the enforcement point of view. As per the MHA order, the local authority shall ensure 100% coverage of Aarogya Setu app among the residents of the Containment Zone. Containment Zones would have intensified surveillance protocols, with contact tracing, house-to-house surveillance, home/ institutional quarantining of persons based on their risk assessment, and clinical management. Strict perimeter control would need to be ensured, so that there is no movement of people in and out of these zones, except for medical emergencies, and for maintaining supply of essential goods and services. No other activity is permitted within the Containment Zones. Fly-pasts on May 3 Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat said the Air Force will conduct fly-pasts from Srinagar to Trivandrum, and another from Dibrugarh in Assam to Kutch in Gujarat on May 3 to express gratitude to all COVID-19 warriors. It will include both transport and fighter aircraft. “On May 3, there are some special activities that the nation will get to witness from all the three Services,” the CDS said in a press conference on Friday evening. He was accompanied by the three serving military chiefs -- army chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane, navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh, and air force chief R.K.S. Bhadauria. Trains for the stranded The MHA has also allowed movement of stranded migrants, pilgrims, and tourists by special trains to be operated by the Railway Ministry. The Ministry said that the Railways will issue guidelines for sale of tickets and social distancing measures. The Railway Ministry, as per the direction, has decided to run ‘Shramik Special’ trains to move persons stranded at different places, from point to point, on the request of the concerned State Governments. “The Railways will endeavour to ensure social distancing norms and hygiene with the cooperation of passengers. On longer routes, the Railways will provide a meal en route during the journey,” it added. In the first such move, a special train from Telangana to Jharkhand, carrying about 1,200 migrant workers, was operated. “Today morning, a one-off special train was run from Lingampalli (in Telangana) to Hatia (in Jharkhand) on the request of the State Government of Telangana and as per the directions of the Ministry of Railways,” a Railways spokesperson said. Pandemic can last two years: Report A report released by a group of experts from the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), University of Minnesota, says the global COVID-19 outbreak is likely to last for 18 to 24 months. “It likely won’t be halted until 60% to 70% of the [world] population is immune,” said the report, which also noted, “Because of a longer incubation period, more asymptomatic spread, and a higher R0, COVID-19 appears to spread more easily than flu.” According to a story published on this study by Bloomberg, the experts also warned that people should be prepared for possible periodic resurgences of the disease over the next two years, and that government officials should incorporate into their messaging the likelihood that the pandemic will not be over soon. Covid Watch - Numbers and Developments The number of coronavirus cases in India had risen to 36,947 at the time of publishing this newsletter, and the death toll stood at 1,213. The number of active cases was 26,109. On Thursday, Maharashtra crossed the 10,000-case mark, reporting 583 new cases and 27 deaths. Tamil Nadu today reported 203 more cases, its largest single-day spike, with the total number of cases in the State now at 2,526. The total number of discharged persons in the state is 1,312. In Brief: U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden on May 1 emphatically denied sexually assaulting a former staffer, saying the incident that allegedly happened 27 years ago “never happened”. “They aren't true. This never happened,” Biden said in a statement regarding the accusations made by Tara Reade, a former staffer in his U.S. Senate office. With this statement Biden, the presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee, broke a month of silence on the accusations. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Friday he was considering extending the country's state of emergency by another month as experts said coronavirus restrictions should remain in place until the number of cases falls further. The emergency is now due to expire on May 6 but Abe said the situation remains tough and further cooperation is needed from Japanese citizens. Ryanair plans to cut as many as 3,000 jobs and close bases in Europe amid the collapse of travel due to the pandemic. The budget airline announced a restructuring programme on Friday that includes plans for unpaid leave and pay cuts of as much as 20%. It will operate less than 1% flights from April to June. Evening Wrap will return on Monday. | 
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