Delhi Covid-19 lockdown extended till May 17, stricter enforcement promised

Delhi chief minister also said that the Covid-19 test positivity rate in the national capital had improved. Delhi recorded 17,364 fresh Covid-19 cases and 332 deaths in the last 24 hours preceding the release of the health bulletin on Saturday.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday announced the extension of the ongoing lockdown in Delhi by another week and promised to tighten its enforcement while ordering complete suspension of metro rail services this week, citing the need to control the unprecedented surge of Covid-19 cases in the capital and scale up the health infrastructure proportionately.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal addresses the media on the Covid-19 situation.

“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 guards down now. So, we are forced to increase the lockdown by another week for the safety of people,” Kejriwal said, making it clear that saving lives was a bigger priority right now. “If we survive, we can think of economic recovery in later stages,” he said.

The current lockdown, which was earlier supposed to end at 5 am on Monday, May 10, has now been extended till 5 am May 17 through an order issued by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) at 12 noon on Sunday. DDMA is chaired by lieutenant governor Anil Baijal and CM Kejriwal is its vice chairperson.

“We have also decided that now enforcement of the lockdown will be scaled up and metro services will remain completely shut down. I am sure people will follow all regulations,” Kejriwal added.

Under the ongoing lockdown imposed since April 20, there are restrictions on general movement of people and economic activities in Delhi, with exemptions for essential services and goods with certain conditions. So far, the metro service was open for people engaged in the delivery of essential services.

“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,” said the chief minister on Sunday.

Delhi recorded 17,364 fresh Covid-19 cases and 332 deaths in the last 24 hours preceding the release of the health bulletin on Saturday. The national capital has lodged a total of 1,310,231 cases including 87,907 active cases and 19,071 related deaths. The test positivity rate for the disease is at 23.34% and the case fatality rate is 1.46%. In the last few days the number of infections recorded daily has come down along with the test positivity rate, making some health experts spot early signs of plateauing of the second wave which paralysed the health infrastructure with shortage of life saving medicines, oxygen, oxygenated beds, ICU beds and ventilators causing several deaths. The chief minister said Delhi had used the lockdown to strengthen the health infrastructure and it needed to continue.

“...Now, the oxygen situation has slightly improved with interference of the Supreme court and Delhi high court and cooperation of the central government. 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.

Apart from suspension of metro services, the DDMA has imposed a complete prohibition on organising any marriage ceremony at any hotel, banquet hall, marriage hall, or a public space. Marriages can happen only in court and in private spaces with (a) maximum gathering of 20 individuals, it said.

“DJ, sound system, tentage, catering and similar kind of services will not be allowed for the marriage ceremony. Owners of the marriage halls, banquet halls, hotels, DJs, sound system, tentage, catering and other service providers will have to either return the advance amount paid by the customer for conducting marriage ceremony during curfew period or they will have to mutually agree to organise the marriage on a later date,” said the order.

While, under an order issued on April 11, there was already a cap of 50 guests for marriages in Delhi, there was no clarity on how marriage ceremonies even with 50 guests could be organised after the lockdown was imposed on April 20. A senior government official, who did not wish to be identified, said that lack of clarity on the matter was leading to instances of violation of the DDMA orders related to the lockdown.