Three months after the lockdown came into place to prevent the spread of Covid-19, shopping malls in Gurugram are set to open next week even as religious places will remain closed for now.

Gurgaon municipal commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh said the malls will be open from next week but they will have to follow standard operating procedures (SOPs) which will be released after the Haryana’s home department finalises it.

Officials said strict guidelines may also be announced for the containment zones in the city which is just south of Delhi.

From 8 June, Haryana government had announced a decision to allow opening of shopping malls, places of worship and restaurants across the state except in Faridabad and Gurugram.

Shopping malls have been losing money since no economic activity has taken place due to the lockdown. Owners of stores at malls say they worry about rent and other fixed costs that keep accumulating, and with hardly any sales they would find it extremely difficult to service their debts.

After a sudden spike in Covid-19 cases in Haryana’s four districts – Gurugram, Faridabad, Sonipat and Jhajjar – bordering Delhi, Haryana had on 29 May decided to shut the border with the national capital. The Haryana government lifted this restriction from 1 June.

Gurugram is one of the worst-hit cities of Haryana with close to 1789 Coronavirus cases till Friday morning. However, over 3041 people have recovered and 76 people have succumbed to COVID-19. The state of Haryana has so far reported 12,583 cases – 7,413 have recovered and 198 have died.
Meanwhile, Haryana government has rationalised the rates for treatment of Covid-19 at private hospitals, slashing them by nearly 60 per cent in the NCR towns of Faridabad and Gurugram. The new rules regarding rates come into effect on Friday.

According to an order of the state Health and Family Welfare department, the maximum rates for Covid-19 treatment will have to be between Rs 15,000 and Rs 18,000 per day.

Prior to this, Covid-19 treatment in Faridabad and Gurugram’s top hospitals ranged from Rs 23,000 for an isolation bed up to Rs 80,000 for ICU beds per day. The new rates have been finalised after taking recommendations of the Niti Aayog Committee and initiatives of the governments of Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Telangana.The new rates will be applicable from Friday and all hospitals are bound to abide by them.