The capital of India and the state of Maharashtra-the two worst-hit places-announced the relaxation of restrictions in phases.

The Chief Minister of the Indian Capital Territory stated that after several weeks of restrictions, the infection rate in major cities in India has fallen, and markets and shopping centers in New Delhi will reopen from Monday to further relax the COVID-19 lockdown.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Saturday that the Delhi Metro will also resume service at 50% of its capacity.

Markets and shopping centers will be open every other day, and half of them will be open on any day.

The office can also reopen at half its capacity, but Kejriwal urges people to still try to work from home.

After Delhi allowed construction sites and factories to reopen last week, easing policies were introduced.

“They have been open for a week, but the COVID-19 situation is still under control. We have less than 500 new cases in the past 24 hours,” Kejriwal said.

A health worker vaccinates a woman with a dose of Covishield in New Delhi [File: Money Sharma/AFP]

“Given that the COVID-19 situation has improved, it is very important to get the economy back on track. We pray that the situation remains the same.”

The government of Maharashtra State, including Mumbai, the economic center of India, announced a five-tier plan to relax restrictions based on infection rates and hospital bed occupancy.

In Tier 1 areas where the infection rate is less than 5% and the bed occupancy rate is less than 25%, all shops, restaurants and shopping centers will be allowed to reopen.

However, Level 5 areas with an infection rate of more than 20% will still be subject to strict movement restrictions.

Official statistics show that the number of daily infections reported across India has dropped from more than 400,000 in May to about 120,000.

The death toll has also fallen, with 3,380 reported in the past 24 hours, although it is widely believed that this is seriously underestimated.

At least 344,082 people in the country have died from the coronavirus, which is now exploding in parts of rural India.

Delhi reported about 400 new infections on Saturday, down from about 25,000 daily cases when the lockdown was announced seven weeks ago.

Mumbai is one of the cities most affected by the virus [File: Rafiq Maqbool/AP Photo]

The devastating surge was blamed on the new virus variant, and the government allowed most activities to return to normal, including large-scale religious and political gatherings.

At the same time, due to shortages, chaos, and quarrels between the central government and state authorities, India’s vaccination program is progressing slowly.

So far, about 180 million people (only 14% of the population) have received one dose of the vaccine, and 45 million people (3.4%) have received two vaccines.