Top metropolitan cities including New Delhi and Mumbai have began unlocking the covid lockdown imposed in April when India witnessed shortage of hospital beds, medicines and even oxygen as cases spiked and deaths rose during the second wave of Coronavirus.
Amid a lagging vaccine drive, experts suggest that the threats posed by new variants need vaccination for the whole country.
India has administered more than 230 million jabs of a Covid vaccine so far – but less than 4% of its 1.4 billion people have been fully vaccinated.
It has also struggled to speed up the drive across the country, partly because of a botched roll-out that saw demand outstrip supply.
The country allowed higher prices for jabs in private hospitals, which has skewed access heavily in favour urban areas and those who can afford to pay. Vaccine hesitancy too remains a challenge, especially in rural areas.
India reported about 101,000 new infections on Monday and more than 2,400 deaths – far lower than the nearly 400,000 daily cases it was recording about a month ago. It has registered some 28 million cases and 349,000 deaths so far, but experts say the actual toll is far higher.
Despite the drop in case numbers, not all states have chosen to reopen. Rajasthan in the north, and Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana in the south have all extended lockdowns until the middle or end of this week.
Even those that have reopened – Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Haryana – are doing so cautiously, in phases and with conditions.
“The government is preparing for a third wave,” Delhi Chief Mininster Arvind Kejriwal said.
The Delhi metro, India’s largest rapid transport system, for instance, resumed operations on Monday at half its capacity. The city’s shops will take turns to open on alternate days to limit crowding at markets or inside malls.
In Mumbai, shops and restaurants can reopen but malls and cinemas will remain shut. Local trains, considered the lifeline of the city, will run only for a few hours.
In Uttar Pradesh, Covid restrictions have been lifted in all but a few districts. But curfew will continue every night and on weekends. Haryana state has allowed shops, malls and places of worship to open – but the last cannot allow more than 21 people in at a time. Weddings, funerals and social gatherings have also been permitted for groups of 21.
