Delhi to start unlocking from Monday; factories, construction sites will reopen

Construction activities and factory works will resume from this Monday, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said. Other activities will remain suspended and the decision of further unlocking will be taken in phases.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said there will be gradual unlocking in the Capital starting from May 31 as the Covid-19 situation is coming under control. But Delhi will take one step at a time and will not unlock all activities as there has to be a balance between containment and the resumption of economic activities, the chief minister said. Only construction activities and factories will be reopened from Monday keeping the interest of the daily wagers in mind. Everything else will remain shut. A detailed guideline will be issued, the CM said, urging people to not come out of their houses unless absolutely necessary.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said for the unlocking process which will start from Monday, the interest of the daily wagers has been given priority.

"The number of Covid-19 cases in Delhi is steadily coming down and the credit goes to the 2 crore people of Delhi that the second wave of the pandemic has been brought under control in a month. In the last 24 hours, around 1,100 new cases have been recorded and the positivity rate has come down to 1.5 per cent. Beds, including ICU beds, oxygen beds are also available in the city now," Kejriwal said.

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In a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority, chaired by lieutenant governor Anil Baijal, it has been decided that the unlocking process of the Capital will begin as the ongoing lockdown continues till 5am, May 31. "The Covid-19 situation has been brought under control after much effort. The battle is still not won. The gains of the one-month lockdown should not be squandered away. So experts favour a phase-wise unlocking," Kejriwal said.

Migrants from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar residing in Delhi are mostly employed at factories and construction sites, Kejriwal said explaining why the decision to open these two sectors has been taken.

On further unlocking, Kejriwal said the decision will be taken every week based on public and expert opinion but only if the situation remains stable and cases do not go up again. "Nobody likes lockdown. We are not in favour of lockdown. But if Covid cases start to rise once again, then the unlocking process will have to be stopped," the chief minister said.

From 10pm, April 19, Delhi went under a complete lockdown, which got extended by a week till May 31. In his last address where Kejriwal announced the extension of the lockdown till May 31, he had said that if cases do not increase, the unlocking process will be initiated.

On April 20, Delhi recorded 28,395 Covid infections and the positivity rate on April 22 reached 36 per cent. The one-month lockdown, which only allowed essential services to function, the situation bettered as the daily case tally has now fallen below 2,000. On Thursdat, Delhi recorded 1,072 new cases and the lowest daily fatality since April 15 with 117 fatalities.