Indian capital ends restrictions as virus cases fall

India's capital has announced the end of all the remaining coronavirus restrictions after government data showed cases of the recent Omicron variant had fallen.

The country recorded 11,499 new daily cases and 255 deaths, according to the health ministry's latest statistics on Saturday, a tiny fraction of those seen during the devastating peak last year.

Local officials in the Delhi region, which recorded 460 cases and two deaths Friday, decided to lift a night curfew and allow restaurants to operate at full capacity.

Places of religious worship were also permitted to reopen.

Schools will function fully offline from April 1 while fines for not wearing masks were also reduced.

The area's disaster management authority "withdraws all restrictions as situation improves" and because people were "facing hardships due to loss of jobs", Delhi's chief minister Arvind Kejriwal announced on Twitter.

India was battered by a devastating COVID outbreak last year that saw 200,000 people killed in a matter of weeks, overwhelming hospitals and crematoriums.

Since the outbreak in 2020, India has officially recorded 42,905,844 cases and 513,481 deaths, third behind only the US and Brazil.

© 2022 AFP