Delhi to start unlocking process from May 31; factories, construction sites will reopen: Kejriwal

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday announced that the ongoing COVID-19-induced lockdown will be relaxed for construction work and operation of factories from May 31 onwards keeping the livelihood of daily wagers in the mind as the situation in the National Capital is coming under control.

Addressing a digital press conference here, Mr Kejriwal said, ''Lockdown is till Monday, 5 am. Gradually the unlocking process will start from May 31 onwards. Construction activities will be allowed and factories will be permitted to reopen from Monday morning, the Delhi Chief Minister said.

"The decision was taken at a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority chaired by the LG, after taking into account the poor daily wage labourers, the most vulnerable section of the society," the chief minister said.

Stating that the COVID-19 cases are continuously reducing in the National Capital, Mr Kejriwal said in the past 24 hours, 1,100 fresh cases of COVID-19 have been recorded in Delhi and the positivity rate has come down to 1.5 per cent.

Mr Kejriwal said a fine balance is needed to be maintained between controlling the transmission and allowing the economic activities to resume.

Delhi is under a lockdown since April 19 with only emergency and essential services open. It has recorded its highest single-day spike of 28,395 COVID-19 cases on April 20. (UNI)