Visuals of crowded Delhi markets have sparked concern among health experts (File)
Gyms and yoga centres have been allowed to reopen in Delhi from Monday at 50 per cent capacity, an official government order said.
Banquet halls, marriage halls, and hotels have also been permitted to host weddings, but the number of guests has been capped at 50, the order said.
The national capital, which recorded 85 new infections in 24 hours - its lowest daily rise in Covid cases since May 1, 2020, has been easing pandemic restrictions over the last few days. Last week, Delhi allowed shops to remain open through the week and markets to open with partial workforce as daily cases showed a downward trend.
Bars were allowed to operate in the city from noon till 10 pm and timings of restaurants were extended by two hours from June 20. Salons were allowed to reopen in the national capital from June 14.
These fresh set of relaxations came with strong warning by doctors and public health experts about the risks of a rapid unlocking and disregard for Covid protocols.
Over the past week, visuals of crowded marketplaces with no adherence to social distancing rules and Covid protocols have sparked concern among healthcare experts.
"As we have started unlocking, there is again a lack of Covid-appropriate behaviour. We don't seem to have learnt from what happened between the first and the second wave. Again crowds are building up... people are gathering. It will take some time for the number of cases to start rising at the national level," Dr Randeep Guleria, chief of Delhi AIIMS and a member of the Centre's Covid Task Force had told NDTV last week, as he warned that a third wave of Covid in India is "inevitable".
Delhi witnessed one of the worst outbreaks of coronavirus during the second wave of the pandemic over April and May as it reported a tidal wave of cases every day. People died at homes and outside hospitals as the government and hospitals struggled with a massive shortage of beds, drugs and oxygen. The explosion in the number of deaths overwhelmed the crematoriums and graveyards as they grappled with the unprecedented surge.