New Delhi: The Delhi government has decided to impose night curfew in the wake of rising Covid-19 cases. In the last 24 hours, the national capital reported 3,548 fresh Covid cases with a test positivity rate of 5.54 per cent.
“An in-principle decision has been taken to impose night curfew in the city to stem the current Covid surge. The timings are under discussion, but most likely it will be between 9 pm and 5-7 am in the morning so that people can go about their daily business without any hindrance. There will, of course, be the usual exemptions for essential services workers,” a senior Delhi government official told ThePrint.
The decision comes even as the Centre in multiple meetings and written communications has told all states that neither night curfew nor short/weekend lockdowns play any meaningful role in breaking the chain of Covid transmission.
In a letter to Maharashtra on 15 March, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan wrote: “Measures such as night curfews, weekend lockdowns etc. have very limited impact on containing/suppressing the transmission. Hence the District Administration should focus on strict and effective containment strategy as per the existing guidelines of ministry of health and family welfare, government of India.”
Maharashtra has already imposed night curfew.
The Delhi government official quoted above said, “The Delhi Police found multiple violations in night clubs and restaurants. There is an undeniable laxity that has crept in. If there are violations, what other option do we have to control the cases?”
Low testing in Delhi
On Sunday, the testing numbers dipped once again in Delhi with just 73,960 tests being done of which 20,000 were rapid antigen tests.
Before the Holi weekend, the numbers were usually 90,000 or above per day, but ever since Holi, testing samples have hovered between 70,000-80,000.
The Arvind-Kejriwal administration, meanwhile, Monday decided to keep open one-third of the vaccination centres at all Delhi government hospitals round-the-clock. This comes the same day the central government wrote to Delhi asking it to issue a show-cause notice to VIMHANS for allegedly giving vaccines to people who are not currently eligible.
“The idea of opening up vaccinations 24×7 is to ensure that working people get a fair chance to get the shot. They end up going only during the weekends when they have to wait far longer. We are hoping this move will ensure less pressure on the centres during weekends,” said the official quoted above.
(Edited by Debalina Dey)
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