The coronavirus-related restriction in Delhi, including curfew on movement of individuals in the National Capital Territory, have been extended till June 7, the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) confirmed in a release on Saturday.

“Though the number of COVID-19 patients and positivity rate is declining, the situation is still precarious. Therefore, in order to contain the spread of virus and to further break the transmission chain, curfew needs to be extended by another week in the NCT region of Delhi,” the release, as quoted by ANI, said. 

Essential activities and services are exempted under the guidelines.

Also Read | Centre announces pension, insurance benefits for dependents of COVID victims

The new protocols also allow manufacturing and production units to resume operations within closed premiese in industrial areas, while construction activities will also be allowed within their work sites. 

Companies resuming activities will need to strictly adhere to COVID-19 safety measures and introduce staggered shifts, while their workers can be subjected to random testing by authorities. 

Delhi on Saturday recorded 956 new COVID-19 cases, the lowest daily rise in infections since March 22, when the national capital recorded 888 cases. 

122 people died from the infection in the last 24 hours, taking the city’s total death toll to 24,073. The positivity rate has dipped to 1.19%. 

Also Read | Centre stubbornly sitting on COVID-19 vaccines : Manish Sisodia

Speaking on the decline in cases, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, “I hope that as and when the cases decrease in the upcoming weeks, we will continue to unlock further. We want the economic activities to come back on track so that the economy can be revived.”

This comes a day after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader said it was time to start the unlock process but warned that if coronavirus cases start rising again “we will have to stop the unlock exercise”, and appealed to people not to step out unless it is absolutely necessary.