Delhi trade body asks govt to allow local businesses to remain open till 10pm

New Delhi, Feb 22 (KNN) Expressing concern over the impact of continued restrictions on local businesses, traders in Delhi have sought a relaxation of COVID curbs and permission to keep shops open till 10pm.

The New Delhi Traders Association (NDTA), representing the Connaught Place market, wrote a letter urging the Delhi government to allow shops and markets to operate till 10pm. 

These markets are presently allowed to operate till 8pm.

In the letter to CM Arvind Kejriwal, the NDTA said that "in UP and Haryana night curfew and all restrictions have been removed but in Delhi, the shop closing time is still at 8pm causing huge financial losses to shop owners".

The NDTA further requested that since COVID positivity rate is reducing drastically, the government should extend the closing timings of the shops, similar to the closing timings fixed for restaurants. 

Delhi reported a high number of single-day Covid-19 cases at the onset of the third wave in December last year, driven by the Omicron variant of the virus. 

Due to this, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) had imposed several curbs, including night and weekend curfew and shutting down of educational institutions.

DDMA has now lifted a majority of the restrictions, with the night curfew between 11pm and 5am, and 50 per cent capacity at restaurants, bars and cinemas, among others, still in place.

On Sunday, the national capital reported 635 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths, while the positivity rate dropped to 1.13 per cent, according to data shared by the state health department.

With this, the national capital's case count increased to 18,55,409, and the death toll climbed to 26,097, the latest health bulletin stated. (KNN Bureau)