India’s capital to lock down amid explosive virus surge
New Delhi imposes weeklong lockdown; country to vaccinate all older than 18 from May 1 as over 270,000 new cases reported; British PM calls off a trip to India; UP CM refuses to put 5 cities under lockdown
New Delhi imposed a weeklong lockdown Monday night to prevent the collapse of the Indian capital’s health system, which authorities said had been pushed to its limit amid an explosive surge in coronavirus cases.
As it batles the rising cases, India announced Monday that it would vaccinate everyone older than 18 from May 1. The country began inoculating health workers in mid-january and later extended the drive to people over 45. India has so far administered 120 million doses to its population of nearly 1.4 billion.
The country reported over 270,000 infections on Monday, its highest daily rise since the pandemic started. It has now recorded more than 15 million infections and more than 178,000 deaths. Experts agree that even these figures are likely undercounts. Amid the rise in cases, Britain has put India on a travel “red-list” and Prime Minister Boris Johnson cancelled a planned trip to India next week.
The city of 29 million people has fewer than 100 beds with ventilators, and fewer than 150 beds available for patients needing critical care.
Similar strains can be seen in other parts of the vast country, where the fragile health system has been underfunded for decades and a failure to prepare for the current surge has let hospitals buckling under the pressure of mounting infections.
In the Himalayan region of Indian-controlled Jammu and Kashmir, the weekly average of COVID-19 cases has increased 11-fold in the past month. In Telengana state in southern India, home to Hyderabad city where most of India’s vaccine makers are based, the weekly average of infections has increased 16-fold in the past month.
By contrast, in New Delhi, officials have begun to impose stringent measures again. The Indian capital was shut down over the weekend, but now authorities are extending that for a week.
All shops and factories will close, except for those that provide essential services, like grocery stores. People are not supposed to leave their homes, except for a handful of reasons, like seeking medical care.
They will be allowed to travel to airports or train stations - a difference from the last lockdown when thousands of migrant workers were forced to walk to their home villages.
Kejriwal, the Delhi official, urged calm, especially among migrant workers who particularly suffered during the previous shutdown, saying this one would be “small.”
New Delhi joined 13 other Indian states that have decided to impose restrictions, curfews or lockdowns in their cities, including the richest state of Maharashtra and Modi’s home state of Gujarat, where the industrial city of Ahmedabad is also grappling with a shortage of beds.
The Allahabad High Court on Monday ordered a complete lockdown in five cities in Utar Pradesh till April 26.
The five cities are Lucknow, Prayagraj, Kanpur, Varanasi and Gorakhpur. All these cities have been reporting a high virus load.
Responding to a Public Interest Litigation, the bench, comprising Justice Siddhartha
Verma and Justice Ajit Kumar, directed the state government to strictly enforce the curbs.
All shopping complexes and malls shall remain closed during this period and all grocery shops and other commercial shops, excluding medical shops, with more than three workers shall also remain closed.
All hotels, restaurants and even the small eating points on carts etc shall remain closed.
However, the Yogi Adityanath government will not implement the lockdown in five cities as ordered by the Allahabad High Court on Monday.
In a statement ater the court verdict, additional chief secretary information, Navneet Sehgal said that the state government has already taken several steps to check the spread of Corona and will continue to take steps needed for this.
Hong Kong said late on Sunday that the Asian financial hub will suspend flights from India, Pakistan and the Philippines from Tuesday for two weeks.