DDMA meeting today to decide on more curbs

According to sources, it is likely that government officials, except those working in essential services, will be asked to work from home. A similar advisory is also expected for private offices, officials said. Other curbs expected to come into force is 33% seating in Delhi Metro, down from 50% at present, and closure of salons and parlours.

“100% work from home for government and private hospitals will mostly likely be pushed in Tuesday’s meeting. It will be decided what activities can be restricted and closed. Currently, we are comparing ourselves with other states in terms of number of cases, restrictions, and steps they have put in place. After analysing and discussing all these things, DDMA will take a call on further restrictions,” said a senior DDMA official.

At present, all educational institutions in the city are shut, shops in markets and malls are opening on an odd-even basis, and gyms are shut.

The last DDMA meeting was held last week, when cases were under 1,000. Since then, cases have quadrupled and the positivity rate has climbed to 6.46%.

“Weekend lockdown or a complete curfew is not on the table right now. But it will be discussed to close other activities and restrict seating capacity in Metro and buses. Work from home is most likely to be implemented to stop movement of people. Further, some other activities like salons are expected to be closed. A final decision will be taken tomorrow,” officials said.

According to the Covid Graded Response Action Plan, a ‘red alert’ should have been issued in the city on Monday, as the positivity rate was above 5% for two consecutive days. This would have triggered a lockdown, including partial curtailment of construction work, partial shutdown of industries, closing all shops dealing with non-essential items, shut down of restaurants and a closure in public transport.

The government, however, decided that more curbs were not needed as hospitalisations were low, and more restrictions could trigger the third migrant worker exodus from the city.

Over the past week, however, cases and positivity rate have increased at a very fast pace. The active case count crossed 10,000 on Monday, the first time since May 31. “The silver lining so far is the rate of hospitalisation. We are in a very comfortable situation and hardly any patients are presenting with serious symptoms. Some curbs might be announced, but they will mostly be minor,” a senior Delhi government official said.