More states to announce lockdown relief from today

New Delhi/Chandigarh, June 6: Haryana and Sikkim were the latest to extend lockdown from Monday but have eased the curbs like several other states including Maharashtra that have announced cautious steps towards restarting or scaling up activities after over a month following a decline in Covid cases.

However, the national capital, which began the unlock exercise from May 31 will see further easing of restrictions from Monday, with the government allowing resumption of metro services at 50 per cent capacity and reopening of markets and malls on an odd-even basis.

Officials said teams of police and district administration have been deployed across the city to enforce Covid-appropriate behaviour. Possible super spreader areas like prominent markets, malls and liquor stores that attract large crowds have been marked for strict compliance with precautions like the use of face masks and social distancing.

In June, several states and Union Territories have begun easing the lockdown restrictions which they first started imposing in mid-April as the second Covid wave hit the country, but the Centre has cautioned that the unlock process has to be slow and that Covid-appropriate behaviour needs to be strictly followed.

The Uttar Pradesh government also extended the relaxations in the Coronavirus curfew to four more districts on Sunday. With this, curbs have been eased in 71 districts where shops and markets outside containment zones will be allowed to open for five days a week.

The Haryana government said it was extending the lockdown, clamped in the state on May 3, till June 14 as a preventive and precautionary measure though the Covid positivity rate and the number of new Covid positive cases have declined. While further relaxations regarding the opening of shops and shopping malls have been given, religious places are also allowed to open now with 21 people at a time.

The Sikkim government, while announcing the state-wide lockdown for one more week till June 14, also allowed relaxation for shops selling groceries and hardware. Even as the Covid situation has relatively improved in most of the northern and western states, southern and eastern parts of the country are still reporting a high number of cases.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had announced the extension of the lockdown by a week till June 14 with some easing of restrictions from Monday, except in 11 districts where the number of new cases reported was still high. Earlier, neighbouring Karnataka had extended the lockdown till June 14. Himachal Pradesh and Goa had also extended the ‘Corona curfew’ till June 14 with some easing of curbs. —