As Covid cases dip, states start taking cautious steps to unlock

On Saturday, announcements have been made that curbs will be eased further in Delhi and that Maharashtra will see five-level relaxations from June 7

With COVID cases declining, Delhi will see further relaxation in lockdown, including reopening of markets and malls and resumption of metro services, from June 7 while Maharashtra will implement a five-level plan to ease curbs based on weekly positivity rate and occupancy of oxygen beds in districts.

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 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.

The Uttar Pradesh government announced relaxations in the coronavirus curfew in Bareilly and Bulandshahr districts from Monday, allowing shops and markets outside the containment zones to open for five days a week.

With this, the number of districts where the restrictions have eased as the count of active cases has fallen below the 600-mark has reached 67, out of the 75 districts.

In the national capital, where the unlock' process began from May 31, the Delhi Metro will operate at 50 percent capacity and markets and malls will open on an odd-even basis from June 7, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Saturday.

The lockdown in Delhi, which was to end at 5 AM on Monday, will be extended further but several relaxations will be allowed, Kejriwal said during an online briefing.

Government and private offices will be allowed to reopen with 50 percent attendance. Markets and malls will be allowed to open on an odd-even basis from 10 AM to 8 PM, he said.

In the worst-affected Maharashtra, cities and districts, which have a positivity rate of below five percent and the oxygen bed occupancy of less than 25 percent, will open up completely, according to a government notification.

But restrictions of varying degrees will remain in cities and districts where the positivity rate is five percent and oxygen bed occupancy is 25 to 40 percent, where the positivity rate is five percent to 10 percent and the oxygen bed occupancy is more than 40 percent and where positivity rate is 10 to 20 percent and oxygen bed occupancy is more than 60 percent.

In the fifth category, where the positivity rate is more than 20 percent and the oxygen bed capacity is more than 75 percent, only essential shops will remain open till 4 PM and office attendance will be 15 percent.

Almost all states and Union Territories have extended the curbs which they first started imposing in mid-April as the second COVID wave hit the country, though a few have begun easing restrictions in June.

The Rajasthan government also issued guidelines on Monday to start the "unlock" process by easing certain restrictions from June 2.

India reported 1,20,529 fresh COVID-19 cases, the lowest single-day rise in infections in 58 days, taking the infection tally to 2,86,94,879, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Saturday.

The death toll from COVID-19 climbed to 3,44,082 with 3,380 new fatalities, while the number of active cases was recorded below 20 lakh for the fifth consecutive day.

India reported more than 88.82 lakh coronavirus infections in May alone during the raging second wave of COVID-19, accounting for 31.67 percent of the over 2.8 crore cases reported in the country so far and making it the worst month of the pandemic.

The month of May also saw 1,17,247 fatalities due to the disease, which is around 35.63 percent of the total 3,29,100 deaths recorded so far.

The daily cases peaked on May 7 when the country registered 4,14,188 infections in a span of 24 hours, while daily deaths were the highest on May 19 with India reporting 4,529 fatalities due to COVID-19.

The active cases had peaked on May 10 at 37,45,237.

Here is a look at coronavirus-induced restrictions/lockdown imposed by states and union territories:

*Delhi will continue with lockdown with second phase of easing of restrictions from June 7.

*Haryana has extended lockdown till June 7 with some easing of restrictions.

*Punjab has extended the coronavirus restrictions till June 10.

*Uttar Pradesh has eased restrictions in 67 districts. Night curfew and weekend lockdown to remain in the state.

*Bihar has extended lockdown till June 8.

*Jharkhand has extended lockdown till June 10.

* Odisha has extended lockdown till June 17.

* West Bengal government extended ongoing COVID-19 restrictions till June 15.

*Rajasthan has extended lockdown till June 8 but has eased some restrictions.

* Madhya Pradesh has extended corona curfew with eased restrictions till June 15. The state has announced separate unlock guidelines for districts.

*Gujarat has extended night curfew in 36 cities of the state for a week from June 4, with further relaxation in timings.

*Chhattisgarh government has on May 31 extended lockdown till further orders.

*Kerala has extended lockdown till June 9 with some concessions.

*Tamil Nadu has extended the lockdown till June 14.

*Puducherry has imposed lockdown till June 7.

* Lakshadweep administration has extended lockdown till June 10.

*Karnataka has announced an extension of lockdown till June 14.

*Telangana has extended lockdown till June 9.

* Andhra Pradesh has extended curfew till June 10.

*Goa government has imposed curfew till June 7.

*Maharashtra has extended the lockdown-like restrictions till June 15, though they will be eased from June 7.

*Assam has extended the restrictions till June 15 though on June 4 it increased the curfew relaxation by one hour.

*Nagaland has extended the lockdown till June 11.

*Mizoram has extended the lockdown, which was imposed in Aizawl and other district headquarters, till June 6.

* Arunachal Pradesh has imposed complete lockdown in Anjaw, Dibang Valley, Lower Subansiri, Lohit and Tawang districts and the Capital Complex Region till June 7.

*Manipur government has imposed curfew in seven districts of Imphal West, Imphal East, Bishnupur, Ukhrul, Thoubal, Kakching and Churachandpur till June 11.

* Meghalaya extended lockdown in the worst-affected East Khasi Hills district till June 7.

*Tripura government has extended corona curfew in Agartala Municipal Corporation areas and urban areas in the state till June 10.

*Sikkim has imposed lockdown till June 7.

*Jammu and Kashmir administration has eased restrictions but night curfew and weekend lockdown will remain.

*Uttarakhand has extended COVID curfew till June 8.

*Himachal Pradesh government has extended the coronavirus curbs till June 7 with some relaxation.