Beds being readied to handle Covid-19 situation at Shehnai Banquet Hall outside LNJP Hospital in New Delhi. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna)
Delhi on Thursday reported 15,097 fresh Covid-19 cases and six deaths, as the positivity rate also shot up to 15.34 per cent. With the latest addition, the cumulative caseload has gone up to 14,89,463 while the death toll rose to 25,127. The number of active cases in the capital now stands at 31,498. Almost 1 lakh tests were conducted in the last 24 hours. Delhi had on Wednesday reported 10,665 fresh Covid-19 cases and eight deaths with a positivity rate of 11.88 per cent. With one more case of Omicron variant reported, the tally of such cases has risen to 465 in Delhi.
Earlier in the day, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain had said that the national capital is expected to log over 14,000 cases on Thursday, while adding that the Covid situation in the city was under control. “Delhi in a comfortable position in terms of hospital bed occupancy. No need for lockdown right now,” he said.
Meanwhile, the High Court Thursday asked the Delhi government to inform it about the spread of Omicron in Delhi and said that it would like to know the percentage of severe cases among those infected with the new variant. The court sought to know about the number of Omicron cases among the patients who are in ICUs, on ventilators or need oxygen support. The Delhi government submitted that it will apprise the court about the exact position in the city on the next date of hearing, which is February 1.
In other news, a massive fire broke out at Lajpat Rai Market in Chandni Chowk on Thursday morning. At least 12 fire tenders were rushed to the site. Luckily, no casualties were reported, but several shops are said to have been gutted. According to Delhi Fire Services (DFS), the blaze started from a shop at the Lajpat Rai market opposite Red Fort. Atul Garg, DFS chief, said, “We received a call at around 4.45 am about the fire. The team rushed to the spot and 12 fire tenders were deployed. The fire spread to a few other shops which were gutted.
Healthcare worker takes a swab sample outside Sarojani Nagar Metro Station in New Delhi on Saturday. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna)
A total of 1,142 Covid-19 oxygen beds out of 12,156 beds are occupied in Delhi hospitals, while 71 ICU beds with ventilators have patients, with hospitals saying that a majority of hospitalised patients are those with comorbidities and elderly.
Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) hospital's medical director Suresh Kumar said only four coronavirus patients are on ventilator support at the facility and they have comorbid conditions. The hospital at present has 35 patients who are suspected to have contracted the Omicron variant of the virus. Their genome sequencing reports are awaited, while 150 patients infected with the variant of concern have been discharged from the hospital since December 1.
Meanwhile, Delhi Health Minister Satyender Jain allayed fears about the numbers showing on the Delhi Corona mobile application and said most of the hospital beds in the city are oxygen beds and a patient occupying an oxygen bed does not necessarily mean that he requires the life-saving gas. He also said of the 750 beds in LNJP hospital, 500 are oxygen beds. The minister noted that the discrepancy in the data on hospital bed occupancy on the Delhi Corona app and the government's health bulletin is because "most beds in the hospitals have been converted into oxygenated beds". (PTI)
Several teaching and non-teaching staff of the Delhi University on Thursday participated in a day-long strike called by the DU Teachers' Association (DUTA) against the alleged funds cut of 12 colleges by the city government.
Aam Aadmi Party MLA Atishi, who is the chairperson of the Standing Committee on Education (Delhi Vidhan Sabha), called the allegations "completely baseless and mala fide" and said the funds were released well ahead of time.
In a statement, the DUTA said the "unjustified funds cut" has resulted in non-payment of salaries to thousands of employees of these 12 colleges for the past two-six months and non-reimbursement of medical bills, allowances, arrears etc for the past two years thereby making these 12 colleges "financially sick". The protest was led by DUTA president Prof Ajay Kumar Bhagi, office bearers, DUTA executives and all the teaching and non-teaching fraternity of DU who boycotted online classes and administrative work. (PTI)
An engineering student believed to be the "mastermind" and creator of the “Bulli Bai” app was arrested on Thursday from Jorhat in Assam and brought to the national capital where he confessed his role, Delhi Police said.
With the arrest of Niraj Bishnoi, 21, Delhi Police said in a statement it has solved completely the case related to hundreds of Muslim women being listed for "auction" on the "Bulli Bai" app on the Github platform.
Bishnoi, a resident of Jorhat who studies computer science engineering in Bhopal, is the fourth person to be arrested for their alleged involvement in the app. The other three, nabbed by Mumbai Police, include a 19-year-old woman from Uttarakhand, also alleged to be a prime accused in the case. (PTI)
With a steep rise in coronavirus cases, the Food and Supply Department has decided to deploy volunteers to ensure health guidelines are followed by beneficiaries and the staff at all fair price shops in Delhi, an official statement said. These instructions were issued by Food and Supply Minister Imran Hussain after a high-level meeting of the department with other stakeholders of the public distribution system on Thursday.
"The minister directed the Food & Civil Supplies department officials to ensure that civil defence volunteers deputed at FPSs should monitor all the beneficiaries are wearing masks and are following social distancing norms," the statement said.
It added that Hussain also directed officials to ensure that FPS dealers adopt Covid-appropriate behaviour at all times during the ration distribution. He also said that coronavirus pandemic guidelines should be followed while lifting ration from godowns. (PTI)
Gurgaon on Thursday reported 1,447 fresh Covid cases, the highest single-day spike in the district in over seven months. On May 16, the district had reported 1,864 cases of Covid.
According to the district health bulletin, the active cases in the district are 4,220. In the last 24 hours, 10,748 tests were conducted in the district. Of the 4,220 active cases, 4,192 are in home isolation and 28 are hospitalised. Last week, nine people had been hospitalised.
Dr Jai Prakash, district surveillance officer, Gurgaon, said no new case of the omicron variant was reported on Thursday: “The positivity rate is over 13.4%. Of the 51 cases of Omicron variant reported in the district so far, three are active while the rest have all recovered and have been discharged.” Read More
Delhi's air quality improved to the "poor" category on Thursday due to intermittent rains while the city's maximum temperature settled at 21.1 degrees Celsius, two notches above the season's average.
The 24-hour air quality index (AQI) of Delhi read 258 at 4 pm on Thursday, according to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data. The AQIs of its neighbouring cities -- Faridabad (219), Noida (252), Gurugram (224) -- were also recorded in the "poor" category. However, the AQI in Greater Noida (182) and Ghaziabad (179) was recorded in the "moderate" category.
The national capital's AQI at 8 am on Thursday was 339, which falls in the "very poor" category. An AQI between zero and 50 is considered "good", 51 and 100 "satisfactory", 101 and 200 "moderate", 201 and 300 "poor", 301 and 400 "very poor", and 401 and 500 "severe". (PTI)
The Delhi Police Thursday told the High Court that it has serious objections to real estate barons Sushil and Gopal Ansal being released in the Uphaar cinema evidence tampering case due to the coronavirus situation.
Justice Subramonium Prasad, who was hearing Ansals' plea for suspension of their seven-year jail terms in the evidence tampering case, suggested releasing them on interim given their advanced age and the Covid-19 situation, while asking the trial court to decide their appeals against the conviction. The judge also observed that even during the previous two waves of the pandemic, persons involved in offences for which the two petitioners are convicted, were released on bail.
Senior advocate Dayan Krishnan, appearing for the prosecution, stated that the petitioners would get the benefit of any policy of release of inmates after it is formulated by the authorities concerned and assured that the jail doctors were taking all possible care of the petitioners who had “nothing special about them”. “Whether there is a second wave or a third wave, it is really something which is a policy decision and not about an individual person. A convict cannot be better than the other. When a policy (on release due to Covid-19 comes), they will get the benefit,” he submitted. The senior lawyer further stated that the nature of offences was such that the “entire system was put in peril” and medical condition of the petitioner during the pandemic cannot be a ground for their release after the suspension of sentence. (PTI)
In the wake of a sudden spike in Covid-19 cases, also driven by the new Omicron variant, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has said that centrally protected monuments under its Delhi circle will remain closed from January 6-20.
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The Delhi High Court Thursday asked the Delhi government to inform it about the spread of Omicron in Delhi and said that it would like to know the percentage of severe cases among those infected with the new variant. The court sought to know about the number of Omicron cases among the patients who are in ICUs, on ventilators or need oxygen support. The Delhi government submitted that it will apprise the court about the exact position in the city on the next date of hearing, which is February 1.
“Your Chief Minister is also down now,” observed the division bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Jasmeet Singh during the hearing of a matter in which the court has been monitoring the Covid-19 situation in Delhi.
Senior Advocate Rahul Mehra, representing the government responded, “Hopefully on his way to recovery. That seems to be an Omicron (case) as well”. (PTI)
Following is the data on vaccination coverage of 15-17 years age group till 5.30 pm of January 6.
The surge in Covid-19 infections has put a brake on the Delhi government's Mukhya Mantri Tirth Yatra Yojna under which the elderly are taken to various religious sites, with a train scheduled to leave for the Velankani church in Tamil Nadu on Friday having been cancelled, officials said. Eleven train trips that were planned in January have been affected due to the pandemic. The train to Velankani on January 7 stands cancelled, said Kamal Bansal, chairman of Tirth Yatra Vikas Samiti.
"Further, trains of pilgrims, including those for Kartarpur Sahib route as well as Amritsar, Ayodhya and Rameshwaram later this month, have also been cancelled," Bansal said. "The decision to suspend the scheme for the time being has been taken due to rising number of Covid across the country. It will restart when the conditions are suitable," said a senior Delhi government officer.
Under the Mukhya Mantri Tirth Yatra Yojna, people aged 60 years and above are sent on pilgrimage on 15 routes fully sponsored by the Delhi government. The government pays for travel, accommodation and other expenses of each pilgrim who can also take along an attendant with them. The scheme, halted due to the second wave of Covid-19 last year, was resumed with a train of pilgrims leaving for Ayodhya on December 3. Pilgrims also went to Rameshwaram and Dwarka before the pandemic acted as a brake on the scheme. (PTI)
In the wake of an exponential surge in Covid-19 cases, two markets in North East Delhi have been shut over violation of Covid-appropriate behaviour. (ANI)
Some of Delhi’s shiny-leaved khirni trees can boast of having lived long lives.
The enduring trees stand in the courtyards of the dargahs of Hazrat Nasiruddin Mahmud Chirag Dehlavi in Chirag Delhi and Hazrat Qutubuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki in Mehrauli. These, going by local accounts, are hundreds of years old.
At the dargah in Mehrauli, two large khirni (Manilkara hexandra) trees stand inside the shrine, within a space that is not open to women, but can be spotted through latticed screens.
The khirni tree at the dargah in Chirag Delhi wears small, white flowers along some branches. A few leaves hang dry while others are on the white floors of the quiet dargah. The tree occupies pride of place in the courtyard of the dargah, and is the first thing that meets the eye from the entrance. Read More
With a surge in Covid-19 cases in Delhi, the last date for applying for admissions at entry level classes in the city’s private schools has been extended by two weeks, announced Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.
Applications for admissions to entry level classes— nursery, KG or class I as the case may be for different schools—had begun on December 15 and the last date for the same was decided as Friday, January 7.
“Keeping in view the prevailing Covid conditions, the last date for filing applications for admission in nursery/ entry level classes in private schools of Delhi is being extended for further two weeks,” Sisodia announced on Twitter. Read More
The third wave of coronavirus pandemic in Delhi has hit the tourism and hospitality sector in the national capital hard with field experts and owners of travel agencies and hotels in the city reporting a 60-70 per cent dip in their businesses.
According to tourism sector experts, Delhi gets its maximum tourist inflow between October and April. Tourists, from across India and abroad, come to Delhi not only to visit the city and its historical landmark, but also use it as a gateway to nearby popular tourist hotspots such as Shimla, Manali, Agra, Mathura, Rishikesh, Haridwar, Nainital, Dehradun, Ajmer, Jaipur among others.
Delhi Hotel Mahasangh President Ajay Kumar Agarwal said that there are around 500 hotels only in Paharganj area and out of which only 350 were operating after the second wave. "The vicious cycle of restrictions due to COVI-19 and the subsequent impact on business has started again. Tourists have started cancelling their bookings and postponing their trips ever since the cases started rising in December 2021," Agrawal told PTI.
Observing that leak of examination papers casts a negative impression over the capabilities of government agencies to conduct a fair examination, a Delhi court has denied bail to the director of a private firm for allegedly leaking examination papers related to the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).
Additional Sessions Judge Sanjay Khanagwal denied bail to the accused Jaydeep Goswami by saying: “It is also observed these days that such kind of leak of examination papers are rampant which casts a negative impression over the capabilities of government agencies to conduct the fair and impartial examination. Such acts will have serious repercussions.”
ITBP New Delhi outsourced the conduct of the written examination to the Indian Institute of Psychometry and it is alleged that the bail applicant, who was one of the directors of the firm that was responsible for the conduct of the examination, leaked the question paper and it was circulated on WhatsApp even before the conduct of the examination. Read More
The Delhi Police on Thursday arrested a 21-year-old engineering student from Assam for allegedly creating a website using GitHub, which published photographs of Muslim women alongside objectionable comments.
This comes days after a Delhi-based journalist lodged a complaint with the Delhi Police over her photo being misused on the website. At least 100 Muslim women were targeted in a similar fashion on the website, which was hosted on the US-based software development platform GitHub.
KPS Malhotra, DCP (Cyber Cell), said, “We have arrested the main conspirator and creator of the website. He was also running the main Twitter account of the website. Our team caught him from Assam. The team will reach Delhi around 3.30 pm.” Read More
The Delhi High Court on Thursday dismissed BJP leader Subramanian Swamy's plea seeking to set aside the Air India disinvestment process on the allegation that the methodology adopted by the government in the valuation of the national carrier was "arbitrary, illegal and against public interest". The order was passed by a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh. The court said a detailed order will be uploaded. “Dr. Subramanian Swamy, sir we are dismissing this matter…,” the bench said.
Swamy has sought to set aside and revoke any action or decision or grant of any further approvals, permissions or permits by authorities with respect to the Air India disinvestment process.
On January 4, the court heard the arguments put forward by Swamy, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and senior advocate Harish Salve, who appeared in the matter on behalf of Talace Private Limited, and had reserved the order. Swamy also sought a CBI investigation into the role and functioning of authorities and the submission of a detailed report before the court. The plea was opposed by the counsel for Centre and Talace Pvt Ltd. (PTI)
The alleged mastermind in the GitHub case, where photos of Muslim women were uploaded on a website alongside disparaging comments, has been arrested, Delhi Police said Thursday. Read more.
Delhi is expected to log over 14,000 cases on Thursday, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said, adding that the Covid situation in the National Capital was under control.
“Delhi in comfortable position in terms of hospital bed occupancy. No need for lockdown right now,” he said.
Delhi has reported one fresh case of Covid-19 due to Omicron, taking the tally of the heavily mutated virus variant to 465, according to the health ministry data. Maharashtra is still in the lead with 797 Omicron cases.
Although the capital has reported fewer confirmed Omicron cases, 10,665 Covid-19 cases reported on Wednesday. Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said that not all samples are being sequenced now – like the previous four months when fewer cases were being reported – but only 300 to 400 of the total positive samples.
He said there was no relevance of sequencing more samples any longer because the new variant has already spread in the community. With the health minister stating that 81 per cent of the samples sequenced over the weekend are of the new variant, it seems that the variant has replaced Delta as the predominant strain of coronavirus. Read more.
A massive fire broke out at Delhi’s Chandni Chowk market early on Thursday. Luckily, no casualties were reported.
According to Delhi Fire Services (DFS), the blaze started from a shop at the Lajpat Rai market opposite Red Fort. Atul Garg, DFS chief, said, “We received a call at around 4.45 am about the fire. The team rushed to the spot and 12 fire tenders were deployed. The fire spread to a few other shops which were gutted. Read more.
The Draft Regional Plan 2041 for the NCR, which was recently made public, makes a slew of suggestions to deal with the supply, use, and reuse of water, and the management and use of water bodies in NCR.
It suggests exploring possibilities of bringing seawater through pipelines to Delhi-NCR “from the nearest seawater source,” to meet non-potable water requirements for large industries and commercial establishments, “so the freshwater available in NCR can be reserved for potable purposes”. To augment water supply, it also suggests that 300 tube wells can be constructed along floodplains in NCR. Read more.
Stating that IPS officer Rakesh Asthana’s appointment as Delhi Police Commissioner was made in ‘public interest’, the Centre has told the Supreme Court that the petition challenging the appointment filed by NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation, represented by advocate Prashant Bhushan, “is an abuse of process of law and manifestly an outcome of some personal vendetta against the incumbent police commissioner entertained by the petitioner”.
In an affidavit filed in the top court, the Centre said this becomes clear from the fact that the CPIL petition is based on the SC’s 2006 judgment in the Prakash Singh case laying down the guidelines for selection of DGP’s, and that “eight IPS officers have been appointed by the Central Government as Police Commissioner Delhi following the very same procedure which has been followed while making the appointment in the present case”.
“However, the petitioner (who) claims to be espousing a public cause, never considered challenging the appointment of eight erstwhile Police Commissioners though they were appointed in the same manner as is done in the case of” Asthana, it said, adding that “such a selective exhibition of ‘public interest’ speaks volume about the motive behind filing” the petition. Read More
Amid a surge in cases of coronavirus and its Omicron variant, the Delhi government has asked its nine hospitals to increase their cumulative Covid bed capacity to 4,350 from the existing 3,316, an official order said on Wednesday.
The Health and Family Welfare Department of the Delhi government issued the order. The hospitals it addressed to are India Gandhi Hospital, Lok Nayak Hospital, Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Burari Hospital, Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital, Ambedkar Nagar Hospital, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, Deep Chand Bandhu Hospital, and Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital.
According to the order, the Indira Gandhi Hospital has been directed to increase its Covid bed capacity to 1,500 from 1,181. The order directed the authorities at the Lok Nayak and the Guru Teg Bahadur hospitals to enhance their Covid bed capacity to 750 from the existing 650 and 600 respectively. (PTI)
Amid soaring Covid-19 infections, the Delhi transport department has taken various steps like suspension of driving licence tests and deployment of nodal officers to prevent crowding in city buses, an order said on Wednesday.
The order issued by Joint Commissioner Navkendra Kumar Singh stated that all activities related to driving skill test, fresh online appointments and tests for existing appointments for permanent and learners' licences are suspended in the wake of the DDMA's Tuesday order.
All existing appointments will now be rescheduled and applicants concerned will be informed via SMS, it said. Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot took to Twitter to announce this. (PTI)
East Delhi Mayor Shyam Sunder Aggarwal on Wednesday said he has tested positive for Covid-19 and isolated himself at home. This is the second time he has been diagnosed with the coronavirus infection, having been infected first in June 2020, he said. "I had slight fever and sore throat day before yesterday. Since I had a few symptoms, I decided to get myself tested yesterday, and my report came positive for Covid," 59-year-old Aggarwal said.
"I have self-isolated and due to my condition, did not attend the special session of the EDMC House today to discuss the budget," he said, adding, he has consulted a doctor to monitor his condition.
Delhi is currently reporting a fresh surge in coronavirus cases. On Wednesday, the city reported eight deaths and 10,665 cases with a positivity rate of 11.88 per cent. (PTI)
The number of deaths due to Covid-19 as well as that of admissions to hospitals and Covid care centres have seen a significant jump in Delhi amid a spike in the case tally, according to official figures. The national capital recorded nine Covid deaths on Wednesday, while the number was three on Tuesday and one each on January 3, 2 and 1.
A health bulletin issued by the authorities reports the data about the cases and deaths recorded the previous day. Delhi had recorded five Covid deaths in September last year, four in october, seven in November and nine in December. According to officials, 140 new admissions to the city hospitals were reported on January 3 and 222 on January 4. Such numbers were last witnessed at the end of May last year.
According to Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain, the third wave of Covid-19 has hit the city, which is expected to record around 10,000 fresh cases of the infection on Wednesday with a positivity rate of 10 per cent. (PTI)
Amid the ongoing row over offering ‘namaz’ in the open, the police here have lodged an FIR against former Rajya Sabha MP Mohammad Adeeb and others on a complaint filed by local Hindu activists accusing them of disrupting communal harmony and trying to grab land.
The FIR has been lodged against Adeeb, Abdul Haseeb Kashmi and Mufti Mohammad Salim Kashmi at Sector 40 police station under sections 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code, officials said.
When contacted, Kuldeep Singh, Station House Officer of Sector 40 police station, said the facts are being verified and action will be taken as per law. Read More
A night curfew will be imposed in Noida from Thursday till January 14 from 10 pm to 6 am. While gyms and swimming pools will remain closed, restaurants and cinema halls will function at 50 per cent capacity. Marriages are allowed with only 100 people or 50 per cent of open air capacity. These measures have been taken after active Covid-19 cases crossed 1000.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday wished for speedy recovery of her Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal who has tested positive for Covid-19.
In a message on Twitter, Kejriwal on Tuesday said he has tested positive for the virus with 'mild symptoms' and has isolated himself at home. He urged those who came in contact with him in the last few days to quarantine and get tested for coronavirus infection.
According to officials, this is the first time Kejriwal has tested positive for Covid-19. In April last year, his wife Sunita Kejriwal had tested positive for coronavirus and while the AAP national convenor had developed symptoms, he tested negative.
Over the past 15 days, occupancy of Covid beds in the city has increased 2.5 times, even as the number of active cases has gone up almost 28 times. Delhi’s active case count on Tuesday stood at 14,889. When the second wave started in the city in April 2021, the percentage of hospitalisations was higher.
Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain has said that the National capital will report nearly 10,000 Covid-19 cases and the positivity will shoot up to 10 per cent in the daily bulletin to be released Wednesday evening. This implies that the daily tally of the viral infection has doubled in Delhi in just one day from the 5,481 cases reported on Tuesday.
The number of cases in the city has been rising sharply, increasing from less than 500 daily cases to nearly 10,000 in just eight days, the data shows. In the same period, the positivity rate – proportion of the total samples tested that return positive – has also shot up from less than 1% to nearly 10%.
Delhi will be under curfew from 10 pm Friday to 5 am Monday, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority decided on Tuesday. The weekend lockdown is a way to arrest the spread of Covid-19 cases, officials said, since a number of people were going out to malls, markets and other public places, where the chances of contracting the infection is higher.
Shops, malls, markets will largely be closed. People can venture out only in cases of an emergency. Only shops selling essential goods will be allowed to open. While most businesses and shops will be shut, DDMA has also said that several people will be exempted.
Delhi is likely to report 10,000 cases of Coronavirus on Wednesday, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said, adding that the third wave of the pandemic has officially set in.
More than 33,000 children aged 15-18 got the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine in Delhi on Tuesday, the second day of the inoculation drive for them. This was a 58 per cent increase from the 21,029 doses administered on Monday.
On Tuesday, the highest number of doses administered in the 15-18 age group was the North East district (6,238), followed by the South West district (4,405).
The North East district had seen the highest number of vaccinations in this category on Monday also. The South and South East districts also saw more than 3,000 children getting vaccinated on Tuesday. The lowest number of doses was administered in the North district, 1,888. Read more.
Delhi reported 82 more Covid-19 cases due to Omicron, taking the official tally to 464, according to information shared by the Union health ministry. Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain, on the other hand, said 152 Omicron cases found over the weekend are yet to be added to the tally. Jain said 81 per cent of the samples tested over the weekend had the new variant. Of the patients who were found to have the new variant at one of the three labs sequencing samples from Delhi, more than 80 per cent did not have any history of international travel or contact with an international traveller.
India reported 58,097 new Covid-19 cases and 534 deaths in the 24 hours ending 9 am Wednesday. With 15,389 recoveries, the active cases in the country stood at 2,14,004. A total of 2,135 cases of Omicron variant of coronavirus have been detected in the country so far.
As part of curbs put in place last week, all educational institutions in the city are shut, as are cinema halls, gyms and yoga studios. Restaurants are functioning at 50 per cent capacity.
The Delhi government has been wary of announcing a complete lockdown, fearing a repeat of the migrant worker exodus seen in March-April 2020 and then again in April 2021.
According to the Delhi government’s health bulletin issued on Tuesday, 5,481 cases were reported at a positivity rate of 8.37 per cent, up more than two percentage points in a day. There are 531 people admitted in hospitals, up from 420 on Monday. Of these, 308 are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms and 168 are on oxygen support, up from 124 on Monday. The number of patients on ventilator support, however, has doubled to 14 in a day’s time.
Officials said that all services, except shops selling essential items such as groceries, will be shut over the weekend. This includes malls, markets and restaurants. Since a night curfew is already in place, the curfew will be in effect between 10 pm Friday and 5 am Monday.
The national capital is the first major metro to announce such stringent curbs, as a fresh Covid wave, driven largely by the more transmissible Omicron variant, sweeps across the country.
Hello and welcome to our Delhi blog. On a day the national capital reported 5,481 Covid cases and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tested positive for the virus, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) decided to impose a weekend curfew in the city, making Delhi the first major metro to announce such stringent curbs. Follow to get all the latest updates here.