Mumbai/New Delhi, June 5
Southern states continue to extend lockdown as cases continue to rise—a development that comes as states in the north and west of India look at easing lockdown restrictions after a significant decline in Covid-19 cases.
Delhi and Maharashtra are both set to ease more curbs as Covid-19 cases decline in the states.
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.
The Tamil Nadu government also cancelled Class 12 state board examinations and said a committee would be set up to decide on awarding marks to students.
Following three days of consultations with stakeholders including teachers, educationists and experts, Chief Minister M K Stalin said “the class 12 board examination for this year is cancelled.”
A committee, headed by School Education Department Principal Secretary, would be set up to decide on giving marks to students and based on its recommendation, marks would be awarded, an official release said, adding such marks alone shall be the basis for admission to college courses.
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 per cent 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.
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