Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday launched a free job portal and allowed hawkers to return to work after four months, turning his attention to the Covid-pummelled economy on a day the capital recorded its lowest intra-day increase in coronavirus cases — 613 — in two months.

In a webcast where he highlighted Delhi’s falling corona curve, the chief minister said: “We are hearing that several cities are rushing to impose two-to-ten-day lockdowns, but I am happy that there was no need to reimpose lockdown in Delhi…. The corona situation is improving in Delhi, and businesses and shops have started reopening. I would like to appeal to all to come back to Delhi. The industries, shops, construction activities, etc, that were shut down want to reopen, but there is no manpower.”

Kejriwal added: “On the other hand, people who lost their jobs due to corona are not able to find jobs again. To synchronise and match these two sides, the Delhi government is launching a job portal — jobs.delhi.gov.in — where (private and government) employers can post job (vacancies) citing desired qualifications, designation, position, experience. People seeking jobs can also register on this website, citing the experience they have, their academic qualifications and the categories they want jobs in, such as tourism, hotel industry, construction, etc. They can also fill in multiple categories.”

The service is free and all government contractors have been asked to register on the site.

Kejriwal said that from Tuesday, hawkers would be allowed to operate from 10am to 8pm, with strict adherence to social-distancing norms and other precautions. Despite retail activity being permitted with restrictions, police and civic agencies had so far kept hawkers out of most areas.

The chief minister said that in Delhi, around 88 per cent of Covid patients had recovered, while 9 per cent were under treatment and about 3 per cent had died.

“Yesterday there were just 21 deaths. This figure used to be more than 100 a day in June,” Kejriwal said, adding that the test positivity rate had come down to 5 per cent from 35 per cent.

He added: “Right now, there are around 15,500 (Covid) beds in hospitals across Delhi, out of which only 2,800 beds are occupied and 12,500 beds are vacant…. In June, we were at the second position in terms of (daily) corona cases. Today your Delhi is at the 10th position.”