The Unlock 5.0 guidelines also assume significance because they are expected to be applicable throughout October — when the festival season begins. The festivals of Navratri, Durga Puja and Dussehra are in October, and businesses are expected to pick up during this time.
Cinema halls
As of now, the home ministry has only allowed open-air theatres to resume operations. However, on Saturday, the West Bengal government said that it will allow cinema halls to reopen and also allow music and dance performances from 1 October.
However, it remains to be seen what the guidelines of the Centre are on allowing cinema halls to reopen.
Academic activities
As part of the Unlock 4.0 guidelines, schools were allowed to partially reopen for students from Classes 9 to 12 from 21 September. However, the schools were allowed to remain open for students only on a voluntary basis to enable them to take guidance form their teachers. The health ministry, in its SOPs for schools, has stated that a seating arrangement has to be made to ensure a distance of 6 feet between chairs, desks etc and the teaching faculty have to ensure that they themselves and students wear masks throughout the conduct of the teaching/guidance activities.
Therefore, there is a possibility that further relaxations may be given for academic activities in the upcoming guidelines.
Tourism
In the past two months, some tourist sites have been allowed to open, with some restrictions. For instance, in July, the Taj Mahal was allowed to open, with restrictions such as social distancing and a limit of 5,000 visitors at a time. Recently, the Uttarakhand government allowed tourists to enter the state without having to go into institutional quarantine, as noted in a Hindustan Times report. The Sikkim government has also allowed hotels and homestays to restart operations from 10 October.FP
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