Chicago to fully reopen on June 11

Chicago: Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced that the third-largest US city will fully reopen on June 11, in line with the date of reopening of the state of Illinois ordered by Governor J.B. Pritzker.

The date is three weeks earlier than the target date of July 4 that Lightfoot had initially planned to fully reopen the city, Xinhua news agency reported citing a Chicago Tribune report as saying on Thursday.

Under Pritzker's Phase-Five plan for the state, a full reopening means Chicago residents and visitors will have few coronavirus-related restrictions starting from June 11.

Businesses such as restaurants and bars will face no capacity limits, though they can continue imposing their own restrictions such as masking and carding for vaccination status beyond the June 11 reopening.

Large gatherings of all sizes can also return, meaning there will be no Covid-related caps on parties, festivals, weddings, places of worship, conferences and sports events.

But masks will still be required for vaccinated people on public transit, and in airports, schools and hospitals, or in most public settings for those who are unvaccinated, the newspaper reported.

There is the worry that the city has not reached a desired coverage of vaccinations.

State health officials reported on Thursday that two-thirds of Illinois adults have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, while nearly 51 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Illinois reported 674 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, bringing the seven-day average of new single-day infections to 637, the lowest level since June 24, 2020.

While the state's overall caseload has increased to 1,383,739, the death toll stood at 22,865.