Amid surging COVID-19 cases, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority will meet on Monday to discuss further restrictions, including 'total curfew', under the Graded Response Action plan. With rise in the number of coronavirus cases and its variant Omicron, weekend curfew was imposed in Delhi from 10pm on Friday till 5am on Monday.
Delhi on Friday recorded 17,335 fresh COVID-19 cases, the highest single-day rise since May 8, and nine deaths, while the positivity rate mounted to 17.73 per cent. This is a significant rise from Thursday when the city recorded 15,097 new cases at a positivity rate of 15.34 per cent. On Wednesday and Tuesday, 10,665 and 5,481 cases were recorded with a positivity rate of 11.88 per cent and 8.37 per cent, respectively, according to official figures.
Delhi has reported six times lower hospital admissions due to the coronavirus this time as compared to the first wave of the pandemic, city Health Minister Satyendar Jain said on Friday. He also said construction workers need not worry as construction work will go on.
With a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases in Delhi and its neighbouring cities, migrant workers and daily wagers fear that another round of lockdown will push them into a severe financial crisis from which they might never recover.
The city government has already announced weekend and night curfews, among other restrictions to check crowding, as the city is witnessing a record rise in the number of Covid cases, months after the second wave of the pandemic wreaked havoc on its health system and led to a lockdown, leaving many jobless.
"Compared to the first wave of the coronavirus, this time, the number of patients admitted to hospitals is six times lower.... Some health workers, including doctors, have tested positive, but in very small numbers," Jain told reporters.
The Sir Ganga Ram hospital also said 15 of their healthcare workers, including five doctors, have tested positive for the viral disease.
