Delhi plans to reimpose curbs as city sees record virus cases
‘DOOR-TO-DOOR SURVEYS, MORE TESTS AND INCREASED TRACKING AMONG MEASURES TO CONTAIN INFECTIONS’
AS INDIA’S capital battles its worst phase in the coronavirus pandemic, authorities drew up plans on Tuesday (17) to reinstate some curbs, such as lockdowns of some markets, if necessary, although elsewhere in the nation new infections are falling.
The news comes a day after Delhi’s top health official said on Monday (16), dismissing fears of another lockdown.
“I can definitely tell you that the peak is gone and cases will slowly come down now,” Satyendar Jain, minister of health in the city government, said, pointing to a decline in the city’s positivity rate.
India added 29,163 cases over the past 24 hours for its lowest such increase since at least mid-July, government data showed, taking its tally of infections to 8.87 million, second only to the United States, and a death toll of 130,519.
Both infections and deaths have fallen from a mid-September high, but the situation is different in Delhi, a city of 20 million swathed in air pollution, where crowds thronged markets for last week’s Diwali festival.
While India’s daily increase in cases has been under the 50,000 mark for eight straight days, around half its record peak, the city state of Delhi has recorded more than 7,000 cases a day over the last five days – a record level.
With his palms joined together during a live broadcast on Twitter, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal pleaded for people to wear masks and maintain social distancing. “If...we see that social distancing and mask-wearing is not being followed in any bazaar and there’s a possibility of those areas becoming a hotspot, we should be allowed to close them down for a few days,” he added.
Kejriwal said he had written to federal authorities for permission to impose the curbs. Home minister Amit Shah said last Sunday (15) that doctors would be flown in from other regions, the quantity of tests carried out would be doubled and authorities would ensure people wear masks in efforts to contain the coronavirus spread in the capital.
“Amit Shah also directed that the hospital capacity and availability of other medical infrastructure should be ramped up considerably,” the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement last Sunday.
“Delhi has witnessed a huge surge in daily active cases, which is likely to worsen over next few weeks,” India’s health minister Harsh Vardhan said in a tweet on Sunday.
India will also employ retired doctors, conduct door-to-door surveys and employ increased tracking to fight the spread of the virus in Delhi, Vardhan said.
Since the middle of May, the capital has gradually opened markets and public transport shut during the early phase of the pandemic.
Delhi, which recorded its highest infections and deaths last week, reported on Monday a fall in new infections to 3,797, but federal authorities have warned that it to be ready for as many as 15,000 cases a day.
As a popular time of year for weddings nears, Kejriwal’s government has also asked federal officials for a further cut in the number of guests at such celebrations, to 50 from 200.
The Delhi government’s online tracker showed just 116 beds available, from a total of 1,327 in intensive care units equipped with a ventilator. Federal officials have promised to make hundreds more available soon.
Delhi’s air has high levels of tiny pollutants of the size known as PM 2.5, which doctors say can enter the nose to weaken the inner lining of the lungs and help the coronavirus spread.
Across India, economic activity has slowly picked up as authorities relax restrictions after a harsh lockdown was imposed across the country in late March to slow down the spread of the virus.
The hardest-hit state of Maharashtra reopened places of worship on Monday with instructions to maintain social distancing and people trickled in wearing masks.