Delhi unlock: Cash-strapped gyms hope for respite

“It will be a major relief. Exercise is necessary not only for good physical health but also good mental health. The current times are very stressful. People need to go to the gym after taking all necessary precautions,” said Ashish Tanwar, an engineer and a regular at the gym.

More than 5,000 gymnasiums, fitness centres and yoga centres in the city are set to open from Monday after 10-weeks of lockdown with new protocols in place to ensure less than 50% occupancy, distance between clients and adherence to Covid-19 appropriate behaviour.

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) said in a notification on Saturday that gymnasiums and yoga institutes in the national capital can open from Monday. (Sanchit Khanna/HT file photo)

“It will be a major relief. Exercise is necessary not only for good physical health but also good mental health. The current times are very stressful. People need to go to the gym after taking all necessary precautions,” said Ashish Tanwar, an engineer and a regular at the gym.

Arpita Aggarwal, another fitness enthusiast, said, “Yoga helps build good physical and mental health. It is extremely necessary. It is good that gyms and yoga centres can open now. If Covid-19 cases continue to go down, I hope the government soon allows swimming pools to open as well.”

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) said in a notification on Saturday that gymnasiums and yoga institutes in the national capital can open from Monday.

Delhi has been under a lockdown since April 19 in the light of an unprecedented surge in Covid-19 cases. At its peak, on April 20, Delhi recorded more than 28,300 new Covid-19 cases in a day – a number that has now dropped to 89, according to the government’s Covid-9 health bulletin issued on Sunday.

While Delhi started implementing a phased relaxation process from May 31, gyms were allowed to resume operations only on Saturday. Even during previous year’s lockdown, while the scaling down of restrictions had begun in early-June, gyms and yoga centres – usually seen as a threat in terms of transmission of the virus because of the closed spaces and little room for social distancing – were allowed to resume operations only around mid-September.

“Delhi has more than 5,000 gyms, fitness centres and yoga centres. The industry was under a lot of financial stress because of the previous lockdown. The latest one was a massive blow. Many of them went out of business in the last few weeks. We hope we manage to recover financially in the coming months,” said Chirag Sethi, vice-president of Delhi gym association.

Vinay Sangwan, owner of Anytime Fitness, a chain of gyms in Delhi-NCR, said: “In the time of the pandemic, people need to stay fit, both physically and mentally, for which gyms and yoga centres are very necessary.”