New Delhi: Hours after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal sought permission from Centre to impose lockdown in COVID hotspots across the national capital to vring the pandemic under control, the Central government on Tuesday said the manpower will be increased to inspect nearly 4,000 containment areas in Delhi.

While addressing a press conference, Union Health Ministry Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that the step will be take following the government-induced Standard Operating Procedures.

“Manpower will be increased to inspect nearly 4,000 containment areas in Delhi following the government-induced Standard Operating Procedures,” Rajesh Bhushan said.

NITI Aayog member VK Paul said house to house survey will be done in containment zones and in other vulnerable zones. Moreover total 7000-8000 teams will be given this responsibility.

The health ministry officials said that the effects of polls, Durga Puja, Diwali will be seen in the coming weeks and will have to keep watching new cases very carefully.

Rajesh Bhushan further added that 10 states and UTs, including Maharashtra, Delhi, Kerala and West Bengal, accounted for 76.7 pc of total active cases of COVID-19 in the country.

The Centre said over 3500 ICU beds are available in Delhi now and it will be increased to 6000 ICU beds in next few days.

Earlier in the day, Kejriwal said that the Delhi government has sent a proposal to Lt Governor Anil Baijal to allow only 50 people to attend wedding ceremonies against the earlier limit of 200.

“As per directions and guidelines of the Centre, 200 participants were earlier allowed in wedding ceremonies due to decreasing number of coronavirus cases. Now, a proposal has been sent to LG Baijal for his approval to withdraw the previous order and bring the number of guests for wedding ceremonies back to 50 from 200,” he said.

The chief minister said the Centre and all agencies are making “double efforts” to control the COVID-19 situation in the national capital.

“We are sending a proposal to the Centre to give power to the Delhi government to impose lockdown in market areas which may emerge as COVID-19 hotspots,” the chief minister said.

The development comes a day after Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said there was no chance of reimposition of lockdown in the national capital since the third wave of the coronavirus has peaked out in the city.

Delhi has witnessed a spurt in novel coronavirus cases since October 28 when the daily rise breached the 5,000-mark for the first time and it crossed the 8,000-mark on Wednesday.

On Thursday, 104 coronavirus-related deaths, the highest in over five months, were recorded in the city.

On Monday, Delhi recorded 3,797 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the infection tally in the national capital to over 4.89 lakh, even as 99 new fatalities pushed the toll to 7,713.