NEW DELHI: India’s capital New Delhi will start relaxing its strict coronavirus lockdown next week if new cases continue to drop in the city, its chief minister said.
The nation on Sunday reported 240,842 new infections nationwide over 24 hours – the lowest daily new cases in more than a month – and 3,741 deaths.
For weeks, India has battled a devastating second wave of COVID-19 that has crippled its health system and led to shortages of oxygen supplies.
New Delhi, one of the worst-hit cities, went into lockdown on April 20, but new cases have declined in recent weeks and the positivity rate has fallen under 2.5%, compared to 36% last month, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said.
“If cases continue to drop for a week, then from May 31 we will start the process of unlocking,” Kejriwal told a news conference.
Delhi reported around 1,600 new COVID-19 cases in the previous 24 hours, he said. Many states remain in lockdown, raising worries about the economic impact of the pandemic.
The chief of state-run Indian Council of Medical Research said this month that districts with a high rate of infection should remain locked down for six to eight weeks to break the chain of transmission.
India’s daily COVID-19 cases are decreasing after peaking on May 9. The government said on Sunday it is conducting the highest number of COVID-19 tests, with more than 2.1 million samples tested in the previous 24 hours.
US vaccine maker Moderna has declined to supply its shots to the Indian state of Punjab and said it can only deal with the federal government.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened vaccinations to all adults from May 1 and allowed states to make their own arrangements to supplement stocks they received from the federal government. India is facing a shortage of vaccines, with domestic production amounting to about 80 million doses a month.
The northern state of Punjab said that Moderna “refused” to send vaccines to the state government, citing a company policy that allows it to deal only with Modi’s federal administration and not with state authorities or private parties.
Punjab, with a population of more than 27 million, has had to stop vaccination for some categories of eligible people because of non-availability of shots, having received only about 4.4 million doses from the federal government, the statement said.
In the statement, Punjab official Vikas Garg said that the state government had also made approaches regarding the Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Sputnik vaccines but has yet to receive any response.
Some other Indian states, including Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, have said they also have insufficient supplies to inoculate those aged between 18 and 44.
Experts have warned India could face a third wave of infections in coming months, and many states are unable to vaccinate those aged under 45 due to a shortage of supplies. The world’s largest vaccine-producing nation has fully vaccinated just over 41.6 million people, or only 3.8% of its population.
