Delhi considers lifting more curbs as Covid-19 cases dip

A decision, however, is unlikely to come until the next week when the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), which makes the final rules, meets next.

Health experts advising the Delhi government have recommended the remaining Covid restrictions be removed since the daily case count has continued falling, with the positivity rate too well under control.

Trader bodies in the Capital have written letters to the government afresh to ease restrictions. In picture - Shoppers at a market in Delhi. (HT Photo)

A decision, however, is unlikely to come until the next week when the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), which makes the final rules, meets next. Traders have said the curbs that remain, such as the night curfew and an early deadline for regular shops, is limiting business while experts believe these measures are scientifically not proven to work.

“In meetings with health experts in the city and senior doctors from our own dedicated Covid facilities, we have been told that the Covid situation in Delhi is now under control and the remaining curbs can be lifted. But the final call will be made in the DDMA meeting,” a senior health official said, asking not to be named.

On Tuesday, the city added 756 new cases at a positivity rate of 1.5%. At least 97% of the hospital beds set aside for Covid-19 patients were vacant, and the city recorded more recoveries (830) than new infections, leading to a reduction in case load.

Over the past two weeks, the average number of daily cases has fallen from 4,207 to 923, and the positivity rate dropped from around 30% in mid-January to 1.5% on Tuesday.

The official quoted above added that a recommendation to lift the remaining curbs is likely to be a part of the health department’s input, which DDMA takes into account.

Headed by the lieutenant governor Anil Baijal and with the chief minister Arvind Kejriwal as its second senior-most official, DDMA has the final say on the restrictions related to the pandemic in the city. It relaxed some of the business-related curbs on January 27, when it lifted the weekend curfew and an alternate-day system for marketplaces where only one of two adjacent shops would open on a given day. It also allowed cinemas, restaurants, and bars to reopen with 50% seating.

Its last meeting was on February 4, when it allowed schools and colleges to reopen in a phased manner and cut the night curfew timing by an hour.

Both steps came after days of advocacy by affected groups; traders said they were incurring heavy losses while teachers and parents raised an alarm over the scale of the continuing learning loss for children.

Trader bodies in the Capital have written letters to the government afresh to ease restrictions so that the losses from the closures during much of the Omicron variant-triggered wave in January can be recovered. Atul Bhargava, president of the New Delhi Traders’ Association, said shops in the Capital should be allowed to remain open at least till 9.30pm. Currently, they need to close by 8pm.

“If the government can allow restaurants to open till 10pm, then why not allow shops to remain open till at least 9.30pm? The business community has been heavily hit by the Covid pandemic and we have been standing with the government whenever they have asked to collect donations, help migrants etc, but when it came about helping us out, no government is showing support,” Bhargava said.

Health experts also said that there was no scientific evidence about the efficacy of these restrictions to control the spread of Covid infections, especially when the cases in the city are already low.

“There is no scientific evidence for it. Putting in restrictions only makes sense when we are at the peak of a wave and our healthcare infrastructure is overburdened.... But now, when your cases are already low, why do you need to put any curbs? World over governments have realised this,” said Dr Sanjay Rai, professor at the Centre for Community Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).