Delhi headed towards lockdown amid COVID-19 surge? Here’s what we know so far

The residents of Delhi are currently speculating the news of a complete lockdown in the national capital amid the surge in COVID-19 cases being witnessed in the city. The rising cases have prompted the authorities to impose stricter COVID-19 curbs, but is another lockdown in the city looming?

The Delhi government, led by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, decided to impose a weekend curfew in the city on Tuesday due to the rise in COVID-19 cases. This is raised concerns among many that the curbs in Delhi will soon transform into a full-blown lockdown.

The authorities have also imposed a Yellow alert (Level 1) of the Covid Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) in Delhi amid the COVID-19 surge, with certain restrictions in place such as the closure of educational institutes, gyms, swimming pools, cinema halls, and other places where gatherings are possible.

Earlier today, Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain had said that the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has already set in, and the capital was expected to record over 10,000 daily COVID-19 cases. No possibilities of a complete lockdown have been announced in Delhi yet.

Though there have been no plans regarding the imposition of a complete lockdown in Delhi yet, it is expected that an amber alert of the GRAP will be issued in Delhi soon if the COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the national capital.

Amid the current surge in the COVID-19 cases across the country, Delhi has recorded a high spike in the daily cases. As per the official data released on Wednesday, Delhi has recorded a total of 10,665 COVID-19 cases over the last 24 hours.

Delhi has also reported 82 new cases of the Omicron variant, taking the total tally in the city 464. Delhi has the second-highest number of cases of the Omicron variant, after Maharashtra. The overall Omicron tally of India has now crossed 2000, according to the Health Ministry.

It is expected that if the COVID-19 cases in Delhi keep increasing at the current rate, the AAP government will be issuing a new set of curbs soon.