Weekend curfew, WFH for govt staff as COVID-19 cases surge in Delhi

The Delhi government on Tuesday decided to impose a weekend curfew in the national capital in order to break the chain of COVID-19 infections. The decision was taken by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) which met virtually to review the COVID-19 situation in the national capital.

"Weekend curfew will be imposed in Delhi following a spike in COVID-19 cases. Government officials barring essential services will work from home in Delhi,'' the DDMA order said.

Sharing more information, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said, "Cases of Omicron variant have been rapidly rising. Delhi has reported around 11,000 positive cases in the past 8-10 days, of which around 350 patients are in hospital, only 124 patients need oxygen and 7 are on a ventilator.''

Under the Graded Action Response Plan (GRAP) of the DDMA, it is decided as to which activities would be allowed under what circumstances in case of a surge in Covid-19 cases. There are four levels of colour-coded alerts, namely, yellow, amber, orange and red.

Currently, Delhi is under the `yellow` alert, which is declared when the infection rate continues to be either at 0.5 per cent for two consecutive days or crosses it. Under the Level 1 alert, 1,500 positive cases could be reported in the national capital in one week.

Under the yellow alert, the night curfew has already been imposed in Delhi from 10 PM till 5 AM in the morning. While, the yellow alert should be followed by amber, but Delhi`s positivity rate has crossed 5 per cent - the mark set for imposition of red alert in the capital.

In either of the alerts, the already existing restrictions will be strengthened with a few places, activities being completely banned under the level 2 (amber) restrictions and a complete lockdown in level 4 (red).

Meanwhile, Delhi's Health Minister Satyendar Jain also informed that COVID-19 is spreading faster and people need to be cautious. He also informed that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who has tested positive for COVID-19, is experiencing mild symptoms.

Earlier on Monday, Jain said, "84 per cent of the COVID19 cases reported in Delhi in the past 2 days were of the Omicron variant. Delhi`s expected to report around 4,000 cases today with the positivity rate rising to 6.5 per cent.

Currently, 202 patients are admitted to Delhi hospitals".

Delhi has been witnessing a surge in COVID-19 cases over the last two weeks following the emergence of the Omicron variant. The city reported 4,099 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours taking the positivity rate in the national capital to 6.46 per cent, Delhi`s health department bulletin informed on Monday.

The active cases in the city have gone to 10,986 and the cumulative tally of the COVID-19 cases now stands at 14,58,220. In the last 24 hours, Delhi also witnessed one COVID-related death taking the death toll to 25,100.