Some traffic returns to roads as virus lockdown is eased
Slow trickle of people seen as some states restart economic activities
People trickled outdoors and thin traffic returned to roads in some Indian states yesterday, a day after the federal government extended the nationwide coronavirus lockdown to May 31 but eased many restrictions to restore economic activity.
Small shops and other businesses were reopened in several states, including the capital, New Delhi, where the movement of private transport led to some traffic snarls. E-commerce companies started to deliver goods, including those considered non-essential, to places outside containment zones.
Metro services, flights, schools, shopping malls, colleges, hotels and restaurants, however, continued to remain shuttered nationwide.
States given control
The ease in restrictions comes as the federal government gives states more control in deciding the nature of the lockdown and the power to classify areas as certain types of Covid-19 zones based on the spread and severity of cases.
In New Delhi, cyclists and private cars whizzed through thoroughfares that had been almost entirely deserted a day earlier. But the famed auto rickshaws remained off the roads as the state government was still mulling over the reopening of public transport.
The ease in the lockdown, however, has had a downside.
The air quality in New Delhi remained in the “moderate” category yesterday, with the overall Air Quality Index hovering a touch above the 170s, according to the government’s air quality monitoring system.
New Delhi had enjoyed a spell of clean air after India announced the lockdown in late March. But the reopening of factories in the capital’s outskirts has again led to a deterioration of air quality.