Delhi's Covid-19 lockdown to ease from Monday; unlock process to be in phased manner

Construction activities and factories will resume in the national capital from Monday with the Delhi government announcing the start of phase-wise unlocking of the Covid-19 restrictions in place for the past over one month.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Friday chaired by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and attended by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal among others.

The national capital has been in lockdown since April 19 night and the current phase of lockdown ends on 5 am of May 31.

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"This is the time to slowly unlock. It should not be the case that the people who are saved from Covid-19 struggle due to hunger. So we need to maintain a balance where we have to control Covid-19 on one hand and allow as much economic activity as possible on the other hand," Kejriwal said.

"In the process, we have to take care of the lowest strata first ... daily wagers, labourers, migrant workers. It has been decided to open factories and allow construction activities," he said.

Kejriwal said the unlocking process in Delhi will begin from May 31 and it will be done in phases to ensure that there is no sudden increase in Covid-19 cases again. However, he warned, there would be no other option but to impose lockdown again if cases increase again.

"After facing so many problems, we have gained control over the 2nd wave somehow. This doesn't mean the fight has ended. The situation is under control for now," he said.

He said the cases are coming down in the national capital and the stress on the health infrastructure has been eased. In the past 24 hours, the infection rate has come down to 1.5% and around 1100 cases have emerged, he said.

While fighting Covid-19, he said, it was also necessary that economic activities also need to be restarted to ensure that people are not facing difficulties.

Against this backdrop, he said, the DDMA has decided to start phase-wise unlocking and from May 31, construction activities and re-starting of factories are allowed.

However, other restrictions will remain in place. Metro services will remain shut while marriages will not be allowed in public places.