As thegovernment gets ready to ease the lockdown imposed to check the spread of thecoronavirus disease (Covid-19), a group of ministers (GoM) on Saturday met anddiscussed issues relating to restoration of partial economic activity in“non-hotspot zones” from April 20, two officials familiar with thedeliberations said.

The GoM onCovid-19, chaired by defence minister Rajnath Singh, has met five times sinceMarch 25 to review the country’s preparedness to combat the pandemic, spell outmeasures to provide relief to people and pass on the inputs of variousministries to the Prime Minister’s Office.

“We discussedways to mitigate the hardships faced by the people and the role ministries canplay in providing relief to people,” Singh tweeted after chairing the meetingat his residence.

He said theguidelines to allow limited activities after April 20 and the measuresannounced by the Reserve Bank of India amid the coronavirus crisis were alsoappreciated.

The GoM met aday after the PMO held a preparatory meeting with officials of seven keyministries to go through the fine details of partially relaxing the ongoinglockdown, a move aimed at restarting activity in select sectors of the Indianeconomy.

As reportedby Hindustan Times on Friday, the meeting, chaired by PM Narendra Modi’sPrincipal Secretary P K Mishra, primarily focused on getting workers tofactories and back, and on the systems and processes states need to put inplace for effective implementation of the guidelines for a partial exit fromthe lockdown as laid out in a home ministry order of April 15.

The partialrelaxation of restrictions will allow economic activities to restart to anextent and also provide much-needed employment to people, especially daily wageearners

“The GoMappreciated disbursement of Rs 31,000 crore to more than 33.25 crorebeneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana to mitigate theproblems of economically weaker sections of population,” said one of theofficials cited above.

The secondofficial said the ministers also examined suggestions to enlist services ofretired doctors, health professionals and medical students in the final year ofgraduation to strengthen the national effort to combat the fast spreadingdisease.

He said theGoM also reiterated its appeal to citizens to observe social distancing normsand stay away from participating in mass prayers or religious congregations.