Delhi on Friday, lifted a weekend curfew and allowed restaurants and marketplaces to reopen, following a sharp drop in new infections of COVID-19.

The city will maintain night-time curfew, and schools will be closed, Delhi's lieutenant governor said. Restaurants, bars and cinemas will operate with up to 50% capacity and people at weddings will be restricted to 200.

The decision was taken in view of the decline in positive cases while ensuring adherence to COVID Appropriate Behaviour," Delhi lieutenant governor Anil Baijal, said.

The number of new cases in Delhi fell to 4,291 on Jan. 27 from a peak of 28,867 on Jan. 13. More than 85% of COVID beds across the city's hospitals were unoccupied, government data showed.

Delhi has been one of the worst hit in the ongoing third wave. The city government had imposed the curfew on Jan. 4 and ordered schools and restaurants to close owing to the rise in cases.

Late on Thursday, the federal home ministry urged states to remain vigilant and said it was a concern that 407 districts across 34 states and Union Territories were reporting an infective rate of more than 10%, Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla told them in a letter.

The Health Ministry reported 251,209 new COVID-19 infections over the last 24 hours in the country, taking the overall tally to 40.62 million. Deaths increased by 627 and total fatalities were 492,327.