Delhi announces week long curfew to curb COVID-19 surge

NEW DELHI: Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister of Delhi, said that the state government has decided to impose a curfew from 10:00 PM tonight till 6:00 AM on Monday, April 26. Earlier, the Government of Delhi had imposed weekend curfew (from April 16, 10:00 PM till April 19, 6:00 AM) in the city to break the chain of transmission of coronavirus. But, continued violations reported in parts of the city prompted the government to impose a strict lockdown for one week.

On Saturday, April 17, Delhi had recorded 24,375 cases and on Sunday, April 18, 25,462 fresh cases of COVID-19 infections were reported in the city. Therefore, the decision comes in view of the strained health system of the city, which Kejriwal said has reached its limits. The positivity rate in Delhi has shot up to almost 30 per cent, implying that almost every third sample getting tested in the city is turning out to be positive.

Amid the massive surge experienced in new COVID-19 cases reported in Delhi, the government has set up two control rooms to monitor and manage the supply of COVID-19 management drugs. All private offices will be directed to work from home in the course of curfew. Only those dealing with essential services and government offices will be allowed. The CM added that marriages scheduled during the course of the week will also be allowed. Because of the curfew, at marriages and funerals, only up to 50 and 20 persons will be allowed respectively.