Medical staff sanitize a Covid positive patient before admission inside the Covid Care Center, in New Delhi on Wednesday. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna)Delhi Live News: Delhi on Wednesday reported 10,665 fresh Covid-19 cases — highest since May 12 — and eight deaths, as the positivity rate also shot up to 11.88 per cent. With the latest addition, the cumulative caseload has gone up to 14,74,366 while the death toll stood at 25,121. The number of active cases in the capital stands at 23,307. As many as 251 hospital admissions were reported within the day, while the number of patients on ventilator support has gone up to 22 from 14 in a single day. Delhi had reported 5,481 cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday at a test positivity rate of 8.37 per cent.
Earlier in the day, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain had said that the national capital was likely to record 10,000 cases today and added that the third wave had set in. “Delhi is likely to report around 10,000 Covid infections today, with the daily positivity rate rising to nearly 10 per cent. The third wave of Covid-19 has set in,” ANI quoted Jain as saying.
The Delhi government has announced a weekend curfew to curb the sharp spike in the number of cases. Officials said that all services, except shops selling essential items such as groceries, will be shut over the weekend. This includes malls, markets and restaurants. Since a night curfew is already in place, the curfew will be in effect between 10 pm Friday and 5 am Monday.
Over the past 15 days, occupancy of Covid beds in the city has increased 2.5 times, even as the number of active cases has gone up almost 28 times.
Healthcare worker takes a swab sample outside Sarojani Nagar Metro Station in New Delhi on Saturday. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna)
Stating that IPS officer Rakesh Asthana’s appointment as Delhi Police Commissioner was made in ‘public interest’, the Centre has told the Supreme Court that the petition challenging the appointment filed by NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation, represented by advocate Prashant Bhushan, “is an abuse of process of law and manifestly an outcome of some personal vendetta against the incumbent police commissioner entertained by the petitioner”.
In an affidavit filed in the top court, the Centre said this becomes clear from the fact that the CPIL petition is based on the SC’s 2006 judgment in the Prakash Singh case laying down the guidelines for selection of DGP’s, and that “eight IPS officers have been appointed by the Central Government as Police Commissioner Delhi following the very same procedure which has been followed while making the appointment in the present case”.
“However, the petitioner (who) claims to be espousing a public cause, never considered challenging the appointment of eight erstwhile Police Commissioners though they were appointed in the same manner as is done in the case of” Asthana, it said, adding that “such a selective exhibition of ‘public interest’ speaks volume about the motive behind filing” the petition. Read More
Amid a surge in cases of coronavirus and its Omicron variant, the Delhi government has asked its nine hospitals to increase their cumulative Covid bed capacity to 4,350 from the existing 3,316, an official order said on Wednesday.
The Health and Family Welfare Department of the Delhi government issued the order. The hospitals it addressed to are India Gandhi Hospital, Lok Nayak Hospital, Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Burari Hospital, Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital, Ambedkar Nagar Hospital, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, Deep Chand Bandhu Hospital, and Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital.
According to the order, the Indira Gandhi Hospital has been directed to increase its Covid bed capacity to 1,500 from 1,181. The order directed the authorities at the Lok Nayak and the Guru Teg Bahadur hospitals to enhance their Covid bed capacity to 750 from the existing 650 and 600 respectively. (PTI)
Amid soaring Covid-19 infections, the Delhi transport department has taken various steps like suspension of driving licence tests and deployment of nodal officers to prevent crowding in city buses, an order said on Wednesday.
The order issued by Joint Commissioner Navkendra Kumar Singh stated that all activities related to driving skill test, fresh online appointments and tests for existing appointments for permanent and learners' licences are suspended in the wake of the DDMA's Tuesday order.
All existing appointments will now be rescheduled and applicants concerned will be informed via SMS, it said. Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot took to Twitter to announce this. (PTI)
East Delhi Mayor Shyam Sunder Aggarwal on Wednesday said he has tested positive for Covid-19 and isolated himself at home. This is the second time he has been diagnosed with the coronavirus infection, having been infected first in June 2020, he said. "I had slight fever and sore throat day before yesterday. Since I had a few symptoms, I decided to get myself tested yesterday, and my report came positive for Covid," 59-year-old Aggarwal said.
"I have self-isolated and due to my condition, did not attend the special session of the EDMC House today to discuss the budget," he said, adding, he has consulted a doctor to monitor his condition.
Delhi is currently reporting a fresh surge in coronavirus cases. On Wednesday, the city reported eight deaths and 10,665 cases with a positivity rate of 11.88 per cent. (PTI)
The number of deaths due to Covid-19 as well as that of admissions to hospitals and Covid care centres have seen a significant jump in Delhi amid a spike in the case tally, according to official figures. The national capital recorded nine Covid deaths on Wednesday, while the number was three on Tuesday and one each on January 3, 2 and 1.
A health bulletin issued by the authorities reports the data about the cases and deaths recorded the previous day. Delhi had recorded five Covid deaths in September last year, four in october, seven in November and nine in December. According to officials, 140 new admissions to the city hospitals were reported on January 3 and 222 on January 4. Such numbers were last witnessed at the end of May last year.
According to Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain, the third wave of Covid-19 has hit the city, which is expected to record around 10,000 fresh cases of the infection on Wednesday with a positivity rate of 10 per cent. (PTI)
Amid the ongoing row over offering ‘namaz’ in the open, the police here have lodged an FIR against former Rajya Sabha MP Mohammad Adeeb and others on a complaint filed by local Hindu activists accusing them of disrupting communal harmony and trying to grab land.
The FIR has been lodged against Adeeb, Abdul Haseeb Kashmi and Mufti Mohammad Salim Kashmi at Sector 40 police station under sections 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code, officials said.
When contacted, Kuldeep Singh, Station House Officer of Sector 40 police station, said the facts are being verified and action will be taken as per law. Read More
A night curfew will be imposed in Noida from Thursday till January 14 from 10 pm to 6 am. While gyms and swimming pools will remain closed, restaurants and cinema halls will function at 50 per cent capacity. Marriages are allowed with only 100 people or 50 per cent of open air capacity. These measures have been taken after active Covid-19 cases crossed 1000.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday wished for speedy recovery of her Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal who has tested positive for Covid-19.
In a message on Twitter, Kejriwal on Tuesday said he has tested positive for the virus with 'mild symptoms' and has isolated himself at home. He urged those who came in contact with him in the last few days to quarantine and get tested for coronavirus infection.
According to officials, this is the first time Kejriwal has tested positive for Covid-19. In April last year, his wife Sunita Kejriwal had tested positive for coronavirus and while the AAP national convenor had developed symptoms, he tested negative.
Over the past 15 days, occupancy of Covid beds in the city has increased 2.5 times, even as the number of active cases has gone up almost 28 times. Delhi’s active case count on Tuesday stood at 14,889. When the second wave started in the city in April 2021, the percentage of hospitalisations was higher.
Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain has said that the National capital will report nearly 10,000 Covid-19 cases and the positivity will shoot up to 10 per cent in the daily bulletin to be released Wednesday evening. This implies that the daily tally of the viral infection has doubled in Delhi in just one day from the 5,481 cases reported on Tuesday.
The number of cases in the city has been rising sharply, increasing from less than 500 daily cases to nearly 10,000 in just eight days, the data shows. In the same period, the positivity rate – proportion of the total samples tested that return positive – has also shot up from less than 1% to nearly 10%.
Delhi will be under curfew from 10 pm Friday to 5 am Monday, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority decided on Tuesday. The weekend lockdown is a way to arrest the spread of Covid-19 cases, officials said, since a number of people were going out to malls, markets and other public places, where the chances of contracting the infection is higher.
Shops, malls, markets will largely be closed. People can venture out only in cases of an emergency. Only shops selling essential goods will be allowed to open. While most businesses and shops will be shut, DDMA has also said that several people will be exempted.
Delhi is likely to report 10,000 cases of Coronavirus on Wednesday, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said, adding that the third wave of the pandemic has officially set in.
More than 33,000 children aged 15-18 got the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine in Delhi on Tuesday, the second day of This was a 58 per cent increase from the 21,029 doses administered on Monday.
On Tuesday, the highest number of doses administered in the 15-18 age group was the North East district (6,238), followed by the South West district (4,405).
The North East district had seen the highest number of vaccinations in this category on Monday also. The South and South East districts also saw more than 3,000 children getting vaccinated on Tuesday. The lowest number of doses was administered in the North district, 1,888. Read more.
Delhi reported 82 more Covid-19 cases due to Omicron, taking the official tally to 464, according to information shared by the Union health ministry. Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain, on the other hand, said 152 Omicron cases found over the weekend are yet to be added to the tally. Jain said 81 per cent of the samples tested over the weekend had the new variant. Of the patients who were found to have the new variant at one of the three labs sequencing samples from Delhi, more than 80 per cent did not have any history of international travel or contact with an international traveller.
India reported 58,097 new Covid-19 cases and 534 deaths in the 24 hours ending 9 am Wednesday. With 15,389 recoveries, the active cases in the country stood at 2,14,004. A total of 2,135 cases of Omicron variant of coronavirus have been detected in the country so far.
As part of curbs put in place last week, all educational institutions in the city are shut, as are cinema halls, gyms and yoga studios. Restaurants are functioning at 50 per cent capacity.
The Delhi government has been wary of announcing a complete lockdown, fearing a repeat of the migrant worker exodus seen in March-April 2020 and then again in April 2021.
According to the Delhi government’s health bulletin issued on Tuesday, 5,481 cases were reported at a positivity rate of 8.37 per cent, up more than two percentage points in a day. There are 531 people admitted in hospitals, up from 420 on Monday. Of these, 308 are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms and 168 are on oxygen support, up from 124 on Monday. The number of patients on ventilator support, however, has doubled to 14 in a day’s time.
Officials said that all services, except shops selling essential items such as groceries, will be shut over the weekend. This includes malls, markets and restaurants. Since a night curfew is already in place, the curfew will be in effect between 10 pm Friday and 5 am Monday.
The national capital is the first major metro to announce such stringent curbs, as a fresh Covid wave, driven largely by the more transmissible Omicron variant, sweeps across the country.
Hello and welcome to our Delhi blog. On a day the national capital reported 5,481 Covid cases and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tested positive for the virus, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) decided to impose a weekend curfew in the city, making Delhi the first major metro to announce such stringent curbs. Follow to get all the latest updates here.