Covid-19: Delhi govt to remove 8pm restriction on markets starting Monday

The decision was taken in the wake of improvement in Covid-19 situation in Delhi. The cases have been falling in the national capital over the last few weeks and on Saturday, Delhi recorded 19 cases of Covid-19, according to Delhi government's health department.

The Delhi government on Saturday decided to remove the restrictions imposed on markets to close down at 8pm due to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted to say that the curbs will be removed from Monday.

The Delhi government had imposed timing restriction on markets in Delhi due to Covid-19 situation. Now that the cases have gone down substantially, those restrictions have been removed.(HT File Photo)

"Markets of Delhi were allowed to function till 8 pm due to Covid-19. In wake of decreasing cases, this restriction will be removed starting Monday. Now the markets can open as per their normal time," according to the translation of Kejriwal's tweet posted in Hindi.

The Covid-19 cases have been falling in Delhi over the last few weeks and on Saturday, the national capital recorded 19 cases of the infection, according to Delhi government's health department. This is a drastic drop from a peak of 25,000 Covid-19 cases every day in April.

Forty eight people recovered in the last 24 hours and the positivity rate now stands at 0.03 per cent, according to health department data.

The number of active cases in Delhi are 430. No new fatality linked to Covid-19 was recorded on Saturday.

Saturday's decision comes weeks after the Delhi government allowed weekly markets to open in the city (from August 9).

These markets were closed in the national capital after a lockdown was imposed on April 19 due to the spike in cases during the second Covid-19 wave. Later on, one weekly market in each municipal zone was allowed to open with proper adherence to Covid-appropriate behaviour and official guidelines.