The national capital Delhi will continue to be in lockdown till next Monday (May3), Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced on Sunday. It was earlier to end tomorrow (April 26) at 5 am.
This decision has been taken in the wake of continuing difficult situation in terms of rising Covid-19 cases in the capital. “Given that cases are still rising, we have consulted with the people of Delhi and decided to extend the lockdown by one more week”, Kejriwal said at a digital press conference.
He highlighted that Delhi Government had resorted to 6-day lockdown last week as Covid-19 situation had worsened.
On the oxygen shortage issue, Kejriwal said that Delhi government had started a portal that will be updated every two hours by Oxygen manufacturers, suppliers and hospitals for better management of oxygen supply. He said that central and state teams are working together on this.
The Delhi government’s decision to extend the lockdown by one week came a day after the national capital achieved a grim milestone with its total Covid-19 infections surpassing the million mark to touch 10,04,782 cases as of Saturday. In the last 11 days alone, Delhi has added about 250,000 positive cases, sending the entire creaking healthcare infrastructure in the capital into a tailspin amid huge oxygen shortage in the city’s ongoing fourth wave.
In the last 24 hours upto Saturday, there were 357 Covid-19 related deaths and 24,103 new cases were reported, the Delhi State Health bulletin issued on Saturday evening showed. The number of tests done on Saturday stood at 74,702.
Test positivity rate came in at 32.27 per cent, reflecting the alarming situation in the capital. Roughly one in three tested are turning Covid-19 positive. Delhi currently has cumulative positivity rate of 6.01 per cent, a cause of worry given that it is above the 5 per cent mark. There are 24,802 containment zones in Delhi.
Most hospitals in Delhi are reeling with oxygen shortages, turning their back to several patients who are in search of oxygenated beds. The situation is so dire that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday wrote letters (SOS) to Chief Ministers of all States seeking their help to share with Delhi any spare medical oxygen at their end.
On Friday, Delhi had reported 24,331 new Covid-19 cases and 306 Covid-19 related deaths. On Thursday, the capital city had reported 26,169 new cases.
In all, there are 93,080 active cases and 8,97,804 people have recovered. As many as 35455 (67,424 on Friday) beneficiaries took Covid-19 vaccination in the last 24 hours, official data showed.
Delhi— which is not an industrial state— is still not getting its allocated daily quota of medical oxygen of 480 metric tonnes. The city State has been saying that its daily oxygen demand is about 700 metric tonnes. The Centre on Saturday increased the quota by ten tonnes to 490 metric tonnes, Kejriwal said at the press conference today.