Amazon, Flipkart to start selling non-essential items in orange and green zones

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the government of India has extended the lockdown by two more weeks to control the increasing number of COVID-19 cases. However, the government is providing some relaxation to less or non-affected districts. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has and allowed e-commerce firms, including Amazon and Flipkart to sell non-essential items during the extended lockdown.

During the lockdown, e-commerce platforms were allowed to sell only essential items such as groceries. Now, the e-commerce firms can sell non-essential items such as laptops and smartphones in Orange and Green zone districts. The e-commerce firms are still allowed to deliver essential items in the Red Zone districts.

The government of India has categorized the districts into four zones based on the number of COVID-19 cases- The Red Zone that has numerous COVID-19 cases, Orange Zone that as few COVID-19 cases, Green Zone that does not have any COVID-19 case in the past 21 days, and the Containment Zone or hotspots.

The government has declared 130 districts, including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, and Chennai in Red Zone, 284 districts under Orange Zone, and 319 districts fall under Green Zone. The zone classifications are revised every week. If there is no registered coronavirus case for 21 days, the red zone will be marked as an orange zone.