Delhi heads into a stricter lockdown
Delhi Metro services to be suspended for a week, wedding ceremonies only permitted at home with up to 20 people in attendance
NEW DELHI: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday extended the lockdown in Delhi by another week, but said restrictions will be scaled up, with metro rail services completely suspended for seven days and wedding ceremonies in public places completely banned in an effort to control the spurt of Covid-19 infections in the city, which has seen its public health infrastructure break down under a massive caseload.
“In the last few days, we spoke with large sections of people – men, women, youngsters, traders, etc. The larger public opinion suggests that we cannot let our guard down now. So, we are forced to increase the lockdown by another week for the safety of people. If we survive, we can think of economic recovery in later stages. The current lockdown was supposed to end at 5am tomorrow, (Monday). Now it has been extended till 5am next Monday,” Kejriwal said at an online press briefing.
The chief minister added, “We have also decided that now enforcement of the lockdown will be scaled up and metro services will remain completely shut down.”
Under the ongoing lockdown in Delhi that has been imposed since April 20, there were restrictions on general movement of people and economic activities, with exemptions from essential services and essential goods. Metro services were available for people engaged in providing essential services.
The official order concerning the implementation of the extension of the ongoing lockdown was issued by the Delhi disaster Management Authority (DDMA) later in the day. The DDMA is chaired by lieutenant governor Anil Baijal and its vice chairperson is Kejriwal.
“Delhi metro services shall not function during curfew,” it said.
The order also imposed a complete prohibition on organising any wedding ceremony at any hotel, banquet hall, marriage hall, or public space. Weddings can be held only in courts and in private spaces with a maximum gathering of 20 individuals, it added.
Stating that no one will be allowed to flout Covid norms, the government’s order read, “All district magistrates, DCPS, Deputy Commissioners of Municipal Corporations, Officer of NDMC and Delhi Cantonment Board, Vice Chairman DAMB and secretaries of APMCS and other concerned authorities shall be responsible for COVID appropriate behaviour viz wearing of masks, maintaining social distancing, etc, in all mandis, ISBTS, railway stations, as well
as at all shops that are providing essential goods.”
According to Delhi chief secretary Vijay Dev, the restrictions on the movement of individuals in the capital city will remain in place till 5am on May 17.
Possession of e-pass for movement in the national capital for essential services remains in place.
“On April 20, we were forced to impose a lockdown because of an unprecedented increase in Covid-19 cases. We were also running out of beds, ICUS, etc. On April 26, the positivity rate increased to 35%. After April 26, because of the lockdown, the situation slowly started improving. Positivity rate has now reduced to 23%... We cannot afford to go back to a worse situation from this stage. The situation has to be further controlled,” chief minister said.
He also conceded that the lockdown period was necessary for the government to augment in health care infrastructure to handle the surge in Covid-19 cases that have, since April, stretched an already creaky system.
Delhi is currently in the grip of its fourth and worst wave of Covid-19 infections that has overwhelmed the city’s health care infrastructure, leaving people to scramble for hospital beds and crucial medical supplies such as liquid oxygen and life-saving drugs.
On Sunday, Delhi added 13,336 new cases (fewer than its daily average due on account of low level of testing on the weekend) and 273 deaths.
The test-positivity rate -which refers to the proportion of samples tested for Covid-19 returning positive -- also dropped to 21.67%, the lowest in weeks, data from the government’s daily health bulletin showed.
The city has so far recorded a total of 1,323,567 cases and 19,344 fatalities.
There are currently 86,232 active coronavirus cases in the city.
“We used the lockdown period to strengthen health infrastructure. Oxygen beds were added. We need to continue doing that. We also faced a severe shortage of oxygen because of the high number of cases and high proportion of severe cases compared to the past three waves. Now the oxygen situation has slightly improved with the interference of the Supreme Court and the Delhi high court, and cooperation of the central government,” the CM said.
“The vaccine drive has also been expanded now. All arrangements are in place and turnout is high. There is a shortage of stock but we have sought help from the central government in this regard and we are sure this will be resolved soon,” he said, referring to his appeal to the Centre a day before to provide more vaccines to the city administration to scale up its vaccine drive.
According to a breakdown given by Kejriwal on Saturday, Delhi has received 4 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines so far and it requires at least 26 million more doses to inoculate its entire adult population of around 15 million in the next three months.