Delhi lockdown gets stricter, to be on till May 17
Metro halted, no weddings in public
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has extended the lockdown in the national capital by another week, making the restrictions stricter. Even Delhi Metro services have been suspended this time. The lockdown will be on till 5 am on Monday, May 17. Mr Kejriwal said the extension was meant to ensure that the city does not let its guard down even though the Covid-19 numbers have dropped marginally. “The positivity rate has gone down but still we can’t afford leniency. We need to extend to lockdown,” the CM said.
There will be a total prohibition of wedding ceremonies at public places. Marriages can be held at homes or in the courts with not more than 20 people, under an order issued by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA).
“There will be a complete prohibition on marriage ceremonies at public places, banquet halls, hotels and similar places during this period,” it said.
The service providers or owners of hotels, banquets, marriage halls, sound systems, DJs, and catering services will have to return the advance payments for marriages during the lockdown or have to mutually agree on a later date for the ceremonies, the order said.
Mr Kejriwal had also written to the Union
health minister, urging him to direct the Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech to increase their monthly supplies to Delhi to 60 lakh doses from May to July.
While the positivity rate, which stood at 35 per cent in mid-April, has dropped to 23 per cent, doctors say even this is very high and there is a need to completely break the chain of transmission.
Delhi’s cumulative Covid-19 vaccination coverage exceeded 38 lakh doses, the Delhi government said on Sunday. The Delhi health department says it has vaccinated 2,75,540 people of the 18-44 age group so far and has a stock of 2,74,460 vaccine doses for this age group.
Deputy CM Manish Sisodia has, meanwhile, ordered an inquiry into reports that 23 Covid-19 patients had gone missing from Hindu Rao Hospital; and has instructed the health department to submit its report by Monday.
AAP MLA Atishi said, meanwhile, that Delhi has so far received 5.5 lakh doses for 1the 8-44 category, over 43 lakh for the 45-plus, and healthcare and frontline workers. “We have now 4.65 lakh doses available for 45-plus people, and healthcare and frontline workers; and 2.74 lakh doses for the 18-44 group,” she said.
The total number of cases in Delhi has reached 13,10,231 — of which 87,907 are active cases. The total number of fatalities is 19,071. The city recorded a positivity rate of 23.34 per cent and a case fatality rate of 1.46 per cent.
This will be the fourth week of the lockdown imposed as the Covid-19 numbers in the national capital skyrocketed, bringing hospitals to their knees and pushing patients and doctors to look to the social media for help amid a huge crisis of oxygen, beds and drugs. “During the lockdown we utilised the time to enhance our healthcare infrastructure. The main issue in Delhi was oxygen shortage. With the Centre’s help, the condition is better now,” the chief minister said.
“We received just 499 metric tonnes of oxygen on May 8, against the average supply of 700 MT as ordered by the Supreme Court,” AAP MLA Raghav Chadha claimed.
Amid a bitter fight with the Centre over oxygen availability in the Delhi high court, the Supreme Court, which had taken up the issue, ordered the formation of a 12-member National Task Force to assess availability and distribution of medical oxygen.