The Delhi government on Monday allowed street vendors and hawkers to resume their services between 10 am and 8 pm every day in the national capital, except in coronavirus containment zones, NDTV reported. The government, however, banned weekly bazaars until further notice.
The street vendors will have to observe physical distancing and hygiene norms. “A special order is being passed through which the street vendors and hawkers can restart their work and livelihood in Delhi,” said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, according to PTI. Kejriwal said there had been some confusion earlier about the applicability of lockdown relaxations to these vendors.
Kejriwal said the coronavirus situation in Delhi has improved rapidly over the past few weeks. Delhi’s recovery rate is now 88%, and only 9% of the cases are active, the chief minister said according to The Times of India. “The number of dead has seen a drastic decline in the past few days,” he said. On Sunday, there were just 21 deaths...this figure used to be more than 100 in June.”
The chief minister said that while Delhi was second in terms of coronavirus cases for any state in the country in June, it had now improved to the 10th position. “It is due to the hard work, prudence and caution of two crore people of Delhi that the situation has improved significantly in the past few weeks,” Kejriwal added.
However, Kejriwal asked people to remain vigilant and wear masks and follow physical distancing as “we do not know when corona[virus] will strike again”.
Delhi has 11,904 active cases of the coronavirus, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. As many as 1,14,875 people have been discharged, and 3,827 have died.
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