Haryana Extends Lockdown Till June 7, Relaxes Curbs On Shops And Malls

The Haryana government today extended the lockdown to contain Covid cases by a week while relaxing the restrictions on shop timings and malls.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said that even though the pandemic situation in the state has improved, it has been decided to extend the "Mahamari Alert - Surakshit Haryana" lockdown till 5 am on June 7 while providing some relaxations.

Earlier, shops were allowed to open on an odd-even basis from 7 am to noon. Now, they can stay open from 9 am to 3 pm. Shopping malls too have been allowed to open but the number of people allowed entry will depend on the size of the mall. "For example, in a 1,000 square feet mall, 40 people will be allowed at a time, and if it has an area of 2,000 square feet, the number of people allowed at a given time will be 80," the Chief Minister said.

Schools, colleges and industrial training institutes will remain closed till June 15 as announced earlier, he added.

NDTV spoke to some shop owners on the announcement to extend the lockdown.

Mubeen Ahmed, who runs an apparel store in Gurgaon's Sadar Bazar. welcomed the decision. "The government is doing this in the interest and for the safety of the people," he said.

Gurgaon today reported 110 covid cases, its lowest daily case count since March 18. It has reported nine deaths over the past 24 hours and the positivity rate stands at 1.8 per cent.

Gurgaon Chief Medical Officer Virender Yadav said, "Haryana has extended the lockdown by a week. This may be considered a partial lifting of the lockdown with relaxations. The Covid situation has improved in Gurgaon," he said.