Delhi, Mumbai eases blockade as India’s COVID numbers drop Coronavirus pandemic News

The capital of India and the two most affected places in Maharashtra have been announced to gradually ease the restrictions.

New Delhi markets and shopping malls will be reopened from Monday to ease the blockade of COVID-19, said the national capital’s chief minister said the infections are falling in major Indian cities after cuts in the weeks.

The Delhi Metro will also continue to provide services with a 50 per cent capacity, Delhi Prime Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Saturday.

Markets and trades will operate on alternate days, half of which will be open on any given day.

Offices can also be opened to half capacity but Kejriwal asked people to try to work from home.

Last week Delhi came after allowing construction sites and factories to reopen.

“They have been open for a week but the state of COVID-19 is still under control, and we have less than 500 new cases in the last 24 hours,” Kejriwal said.

“It is important that if the COVID-19 situation improves, the economy can be restarted. We pray that the situation will remain the same.”

The government of the state of Maharashtra, including India’s Mumbai economic center, has announced a five-step plan to alleviate cuts in infection rates and hospital bed occupancy.

In one-off areas, with infection rates below five percent and hospital beds below 25 percent, all shops, restaurants and shopping centers will be allowed to reopen.

But the five-tier districts – which have infection rates of more than 20 percent – will remain under severe movement restrictions.

Daily infections across India fell by around 120,000 from more than 400,000 in May, according to official statistics.

Deaths have also declined, with 3,380 reported in the previous 24 hours, although this is considered to be significant.

At least 344,082 people in the country have lost their lives as a result of the coronavirus that is currently accumulating in some rural areas of India.

Delhi reported 400 new infections on Saturday, less than about 25,000 cases a day, when the blockade was announced seven weeks earlier.

Mumbai was among the cities affected by the virus [File: Rafiq Maqbool/AP Photo]

The devastating rise was attributed to new variants of the virus and allowed the government to return most activities to normal, including mass religions and political meetings.

On the other hand, the vaccination program in India is progressing slowly due to scarcity, confusion and clashes between the central government and state authorities.

So far about 180 million people, only 14% of the population, have received one dose, and 45 million, or 3.4 percent, have received two shots.