Unlock 4: People will no longer need e-passes to travel anywhere within the country. (File)

New Delhi:

Starting September 1, people will no longer need to get e-passes or register their details on government websites to travel anywhere within the country, rules issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs as part of Unlock 4 state.

As per the new guidelines, meant to start more activities outside containment zones amid the coronavirus pandemic, there will be no restriction on inter-state or inter-district movement of people and goods.

Unlock 4 rules, however, do not say anything about the quarantine policy which state governments have been altering in keeping with their Covid caseload.

International air travel of passengers, except as permitted by the Home Ministry, also remains suspended for now.

The Central Government rules also disallow state governments from imposing any local lockdowns outside containment zones without prior consultation with it.

State-specific lockdowns in view of rising coronavirus cases, even night curfew, have affected inter-state traffic, movement of goods and business activities.

Under Unlock 4, all activities and facilities except cinema halls, swimming pools, entertainment parks, theatres (excluding open air theatre) and similar places, will be allowed.

The guidelines to open up the economy, albeit with Covid safety rules in place, come at a time when coronavirus cases have been rising steadily across India, at around 70,000 new infections every day, with the total number of cases crossing 34 lakh behind the United States and Brazil. More than 62,000 people have died in the country so far.

The country has been recording the world’s highest daily spike in coronavirus figures since early this month. Over the last four days, there was been an uptick in the number of daily new cases, the positivity rate and the “R” or reproduction rate – the measure of how many people are infected by one infected person.