India re-opens major cities as new Covid-19 infections hit 2 month low

Commuters walk at a metro station after the services were allowed to operate at 50 percent capacity in New Delhi

Key Indian cities re-opened for business on Monday, with long queues for buses in the financial hub of Mumbai while traffic returned to the roads of New Delhi after a devastating second wave of coronavirus that killed hundreds of thousands. The 100,636 new infections of the past 24 hours were the lowest in the world's second most populous nation since April 6, and well off last month's peaks of more than 400,000, allowing authorities to re-open parts of the economy. ‘We have to save ourselves from infection but also bring the economy back on track,’ Delhi's Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Twitter. He ordered half the capital's shops to open on odd and even numbered days of the month respectively, in a bid to limit crowds, but allowed offices and the Delhi underground rail network to run at 50% of capacity.