Here Is How Delhi Plans To Open Up From COVID-19 Lockdown Starting May 31

As the number of COVID-19 cases continues to come down in Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the unlock process in the national capital will begin from May 31.

Like in 2020, Delhi plans to lift the restrictions in a phased manner and open up gradually, starting with the resumption of construction activities and reopening of factories for one week from Monday.

BCCL

"Time to start unlock process"

"It is time to start the unlock process. It should not be the case that people escape coronavirus but die of hunger... We have to maintain a balance between controlling the spread of coronavirus and allowing economic activities," Kejriwal said during an online press briefing.

"At a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Friday, it was decided that the lockdown be lifted gradually. In this process, we have to take care of the lowest strata first ... daily wagers, labourers, migrant workers who come to Delhi from far off areas in search of livelihood," he said.

Reuters

"Keeping this in mind, it has been decided to open factories and allow construction activities for one week from Monday," he said, adding the government will continue the unlock process every week based on the opinion of experts and the public.

However, if the cases start rising again, we will have to stop the unlock exercise, he added and appealed to people not to step out unless it is absolutely necessary.

Delhi went into a lockdown on April 9 after weekend curfews and other restrictions failed to have any impact on the spread of COVID-19 in the national capital.

BCCL

Since then the government kept extending the lockdown as the cases continued to increase.

Things started changing for Delhi since the start of this month and cases began reducing.

AFP

Over the past few days, Delhi has been recording around 1000 COVID-19 cases in a day.

While the easing of lockdown comes as a welcome relief for many especially those employed in the concerned sectors, there is also a fear the lifting the restrictions too soon could result in another surge in cases in Delhi.