Several restrictions such as night curfews and partial lockdown imposed by separate state authorities to contain the spread of Covid 19 have led to a 30 per cent loss of in business activities in retail markets of the country in the last one week, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said. It added that footfall of consumers in retail outlets has also dropped sharply.

Not just that movement of goods has been affected too, the association said.

According to a CAIT analysis, night Curfew and other restrictions have absolutely been futile in achieving the desired results of bringing down the cases. On the April 5, India reported 96,563 positive cases out of which Maharashtra had 47,228, Delhi -3548, Gujarat -3160, Punjab -2692, Karnataka -5279 and Chattisgarh -7302.

Since then Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat, Punjab, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh have imposed various restrictions like night curfews. But on April 9, India reported 1,45,384 positive cases — 50 per cent increase from April 5, the day restrictions were announced.

Maharashtra reported 58993 cases on April 9 which is 25 per cent jump than the day lockdown was announced by the state government. Similarly, Gujarat and Delhi too witnessed a steep rise in the number of cases.