India announces easing of lockdown restrictions

Migrant workers and their family members walk carrying their belongings on a highway as they leave to go back to their villages during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus, in Ghaziabad of Uttar Pradesh state on March 27, 2020. (Photo by Prakash SINGH / AFP FILE)

NEW DELHI — India has announced the easing of a stringent lockdown for 1.3 billion people by allowing the opening of neighborhood and standalone shops with restrictions such as 50% of workers with face masks and social distancing.

A home ministry statement issued late Friday said that shops in single and multi-brand malls would not be allowed to open anywhere in the country.

The relaxation also would not be applicable in hundreds of hotspots and containment zones across the country. India has so far reported more than 24,500 positive new coronavirus cases and 775 deaths. The worst-hit states are Maharashtra with 6,817 positive cases, Gujarat with 3,815 cases, New Delhi 2,514, and Rajasthan 2,034 cases.

India imposed a lockdown for its 1.3 billion people on March 25 and it is due to end on May 3. Last week, the government allowed resumption of manufacturing and farming activities in rural areas as millions of daily wage-earners were left without work.

The Home Ministry said the rise in the number of positive cases in India is linear, not exponential.