Malls, hotels, religious places set to reopen today amid uptick in COVID cases

New Delhi: A token system for regulated entry and no physical offerings like ‘prasad’ will be some of the norms as shopping malls, religious places, hotels and restaurants are set to reopen in most states from Monday after over two months that could pose new challenges to check the spread of the coronavirus.
As India prepares for a calibrated exit from the lockdown by easing more restrictions, ‘Unlock-1–the first of the three-phase plan for reopening of prohibited activities in non-containment zones with a stringent set of Standard Operating Procedures(SOPs)–kicks in at a time when the country recorded a daily jump of COVID-19 cases by over 9,000 for the fifth straight day on Sunday.
The SOPs will be in place till June 30. India registered its highest single-day spike of 9,971 new infections taking the total to 2,46,628 and 287 deaths in the 24 hours since Saturday morning, the Union Health Ministry said. The death toll stood at 6,929, it said. The number of active COVID-19 cases stands at 1,20,406 while a total of 1,19,292 people had recovered and one patient has migrated, the ministry added. Around 48.37 per cent of the patients have recovered so far, a senior ministry official said. The new phase is especially challenging for the five worst affected states, accounting for nearly 70 per cent of the total confirmed coronavirus cases, and nearly 78 per cent of the deaths. Maharashtra(85,975 cases),Tamil Nadu(30,152), Delhi(27,654), Gujarat (20,097) and Rajasthan (10,331) were the five worst affected states while Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh inched towards the 10,000 mark.
There also has been an uptick in cases in states like West Bengal which recorded the highest single-day spike for the third day in a row with 449 cases taking the tally to 8,187.
Tamil Nadu, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir also registered a record daily rise. Maharashtra, which reported 3,007 new cases, has now surpassed China which accounted for 83,036 COVID-19 infections to be in the 18th position in the global tally. (PTI)