Addressing a press conference on Sunday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that the lockdown in the state has been extended to May 31. "If COVID-19 cases continue to decrease, we will begin to unlock Delhi in a phased manner from May 31. The positivity rate has come to 2.5 per cent in Delhi. 1,600 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Delhi in the last 24 hours," he said, reported news agency ANI.
Kejriwal had first imposed a lockdown on April 19 which was later extended multiple times, lastly on May 16.
Delhi recorded 2,260 fresh coronavirus cases, the lowest since March 1, and 182 fatalities on Saturday with the positivity rate slipping to 3.58 per cent, even as Kejriwal cautioned that falling numbers did not mean the dangers have been stalled.
Amid escalating cases of black fungus in the national capital, Delhi Health Minister Jain earlier in the day had asked people to be watchful and not resort to self-medication, particularly of steroids, and said about 15 hospitals in the city are treating patients of mucormycosis.
Mucormycosis or black fungus is more common among people whose immunity has got lowered, due to Covid, diabetes, kidney disease, liver or cardiac disorders, age-related issues, or those on medication for auto-immune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis.
On May 15, Kejriwal had said, "The virus is reducing in Delhi slowly and steadily, and I hope it diminishes completely and does not rise again. However, we are not going to become negligent in anyway", while sounding a tone of caution.
Kejriwal on Saturday said: "To save Delhi and the country from the third wave, there is only one way vaccinate maximum people in minimum time. Beds, ICUs, oxygen, and medicines, we are already preparing for all this, but the vaccine is the strongest weapon to save ourselves from the wrath of the coronavirus. The shortage of vaccines is not just the concern of the government, the ordinary man is also scared of the problem of shortage of vaccines."
Since April 19, both daily cases and single-day deaths count had been spiralling up, with over 28,000 cases and 277 deaths recorded on April 20; rising to 306 fatalities on April 22. On May 2, the city registered a record 407 deaths, according to official data.
-Inputs from PTI