As the COVID-19 cases continue to decline in India, the ministry of home affairs has decided to end all the COVID-19 restrictions from 31 March 2022. Ajay Bhalla, current home secretary of India, said in the notification, “After taking into consideration the overall improvement in the situation and preparedness of the government to deal with the pandemic, National Disaster Management Authority has taken a decision that there may not be any further need to invoke the provisions of the DM Act for COVID containment measures.”

However, the ministry clarified that some measures like the use of face masks and hand hygiene will still continue as earlier.

The union government had issued various guidelines and measures for the first time on March 24, 2020, under the Disaster Management Act to curb the COVID-19 situation in the country, which have been modified several times thereafter.

India currently has 23,087 active COVID-19 cases and recorded 1,778 new cases and 62 deaths in the last 24 hours. The daily positivity rate has also declined to 0.28%.