The Delhi government in its new unlock guidelines has allowed weekly markets to open up starting Monday, officials on Saturday said. Other affected sectors like hospitality, salons are also on the radar of discussion for resuming of business, but apprehensions persists, sources cleared.
According to the Indian Express report, a file with suggestions on reopening of businesses next week was sent to the L-G of Delhi. The L-G gave a go-head to businesses that are operational on a given day like the weekly market, but with a few changes on how this will be achieved.
Delhi entered lockdown after a surge in Covid-19 cases in the second wave on April 20. Phase-wise reopening started in the national capital on May 31, where factories and construction were allowed to resume operations. This was followed by markets in an odd-even format i.e half of the shops were opened on odd days and the other half on the even days of the week. Delhi Metro also resumed with 50 percent capacity.
A formal order on reopening of all the businesses and activities for the next week will be made public by the Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal by Sunday (June 13) evening. Apprehensions remain on the opening of restaurants, gyms, and salons where there is a chance of high exposure indoors without masks. Officials also found that since the vaccination process is in swing, reopening of these businesses can be considered with some restrictions in place.
Delhi witnessed 213 new cases on Sunday, June 13, the lowest in over three months with 28 more deaths. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal praised the people of Delhi, saying they have together faced the second wave of the pandemic with struggle and discipline and “succeeded in controlling it”. Cases remained under the 1,000 mark for consistently two weeks now.