No plans for lockdown, says Arvind Kejriwal; Delhi sees 1,647 new cases

As many as 1,647 fresh Covid cases were recorded in Delhi in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 42,829. The city also recorded 73 deaths in a day, the highest single-day toll so far. As many as 1,400 people have succumbed to the illness in the city, resulting in a mortality rate of 3.2%.

The Press Information Bureau also tweeted on Sunday: “There is no such plan under consideration.” Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain had also last week ruled out any possibility of a lockdown. He had said enforcing restrictions would not help in arresting the spike in positive cases.

The state government also ordered all hospitals to install CCTVs at Covid wards in 24 hours for efficient management and monitoring of patients. The order comes on the same day that Union Home Minister Amit Shah visited Lok Nayak Hospital and suggested cameras be installed in the hospital’s Covid wards.

Meanwhile, a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority, scheduled for Tuesday, to review the Covid situation in the capital has been postponed. Lt-Governor Anil Baijal was to chair the meeting in the presence of Kejriwal, Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, Chief Secretary Vijay Dev, Delhi Police Commissioner SN Shrivastava, among others.

Issues that would have been up for assessment at the meeting include state of preparedness of medical infrastructure, preparing makeshift hospitals, empowering RWAs to create isolation facilities, fixing price cap for treatment at private hospitals, reducing charges for testing, drive through Covid tests, and recruitment of medical personnel to meet any projected shortfall.