Delhi back in lockdown
A six-day lockdown will be in force in Delhi till the morning of April 26, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal announced on Monday, citing a relentless surge in Covid-19 infections that has risen by close to 600% in the last two weeks and has now inundated hospitals and triggered a shortage in critical medical supplies.
Kejriwal said the city added 23,500 new cases in the last 24 hours, and that the curfew was necessary to allow enhancements in the numbers of beds and supplies of life-saving drugs and oxygen to catch up. The city, according to Delhi’s health bulletin on Monday, now has 76,887 active cases. It also registered a record 240 deaths -- the first time casualties were above 200 in a single day.
“Delhi’s health system is now unable to take in more patients. It is now necessary to impose a lockdown in Delhi from 10 pm today to 5am on Monday (April 26).
DELHI
Essential services will remain open, food and medicine shops will be allowed to operate, weddings will be limited to 50 guests. A detailed order will be released soon,” he said.
The decision was taken in a Covid-19 review meeting held between Delhi’s lieutenant governor Anil Baijal and Kejriwal on Monday morning. “The situation of Covid-19 in NCT of Delhi has again been reviewed and it has been observed that there has been a very sharp increase in Covid-19 cases along with very high positivity rate over the last few days and therefore, it is felt that in order to contain the fast spread of the virus, a curfew needs to be imposed in the territory of NCT of Delhi, except for essential activities/services, as an emergency measure, in order to break the transmission chain of Covid-19 virus and for the overall well being and safety of the people of Delhi,” said the order issued shortly afterwards by chief secretary Vijay Dev.
While the restrictions are not entirely a curfew, movement will be prohibited unless someone is seeking or providing essential services, medical help, or has to go to a handful of exempted workplaces, such as government offices. People in some of these categories will require an e-pass from the government, the order added, while others will need to show an identity card. The rules are almost identical to those for the weekend and night curfews that have been in place in Delhi.
According to HT’s dashboard, the average number of cases added in the Capital each day has risen 586% from April 4 till April 18. In this period, the average test positivity rate – a proxy for how large an outbreak may be beyond case numbers – has risen from 3.57% to 19.39%. The daily positivity rate, according to the Monday bulletin, was 26.12%.
The Delhi government’s Delhi Corona mobile application showed that as of 10.30pm, only 26 Covid-19 ICU beds with ventilators (and an equal number without ventilators) were vacant in the city. More than 83% of the city’s nearly 20,000 hospital beds for Covid-19 patients were occupied, the app showed.