As COVID-19 cases surge, Delhi prohibits dine-in service at restaurants but allows take-aways

As Delhi continues to witness a rise in coronavirus cases, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) has prohibited dine-in service at restaurants but allowed takeaways.

The development comes on the same day that the National Capital logged 17 more deaths due to COVID-19 and 19,166 infections in a day. The positivity rate rose to 25 percent, the highest since May 4 last year, according to the city health department's data on Monday.

A total of 1,912 Covid patients are in hospitals. Of these, 65 are on ventilator support, government data showed. The city currently has 65,803 active cases of which 44,028 are in home isolation.

On Sunday, the National Capital witnessed a 12 percent jump in new infections as it added 22,751 cases.

The measures were  discussed at a meeting chaired by Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal and attended by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, along with several senior officials from the health ministry.

"In view of the increase in positive cases it was decided to close the restaurants and bars and to allow 'take away' facility only. It was also decided to allow operation of only one weekly market per day per zone," Baijal said in a tweet.

Chaired the 31st meeting of DDMA to review the COVID-19 situation in Delhi along with Hon'ble CM @ArvindKejriwal, Hon’ble DyCM @msisodia, Hon’ble Ministers @SatyendarJain & @kgahlot, Dr VK Paul-NITIAayog, Chief Secretary, Prof Balram Bhargava-ICMR, Dr Randeep Guleria-AIIMS, pic.twitter.com/Opzf2kFhBV

— LG Delhi (@LtGovDelhi) January 10, 2022

Officers were also advised to strictly ensure people wear masks and adhere to social distancing norms in markets and public areas to break the chain of transmission, he said in another tweet.

Earlier, eateries and bars in the National Capital were allowed to run with a 50 percent capacity to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

It was also reported that restrictions imposed in Delhi should also be imposed in National Capital Territory Region to prevent rise in cases.

Curbs in Delhi

The new curbs come on top of the existing restrictions that have been imposed in Delhi.

The DDMA had last week ordered the closure of schools, colleges, cinemas, and gyms with immediate effect and put various restrictions on the functioning of shops and public transport.

Shops inside malls and at marketplaces are operating on an odd-even basis between 10 am and 8 pm.

On 4 January, Delhi officials had also announced a weekend curfew from 10 pm on Friday to 5 am on Monday in the city.

According to officials, no non-essential movement would be allowed during the weekend curfew and government officials were ordered to 'work from home'.

Only 20 people are allowed to attend weddings and funerals.

What did Kejriwal say?

The DDMA’s decision not to impose a full lockdown, is in sync with what Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said a day ago.

On Sunday, Kejriwal said that the government had no plans to impose lockdown as yet.

"Rising COVID-19 cases are a matter of concern but there is no need to panic. Very few people are getting hospitalised. Wearing mask is very important. There will be no lockdown if you continue to wear mask. There is no plan to impose lockdown as of now," Kejriwal said.

“Our attempt is to impose minimum restrictions so livelihoods are not affected,” Kejriwal added.

Coronavirus in Delhi

In just 10 days, Delhi has recorded 70 COVID deaths.

Sunday's daily count was the highest the Capital has recorded since 1 May when it saw 25,219 cases with a positivity rate of 31.61 percent.

Government data showed that a total of 1,618 COVID-19 patients were in hospitals and of them, 44 were on ventilator support.

Of the 46 COVID-19 patients who died in Delhi between January 5 and January 9, 34 had comorbidities such as cancer and heart and liver diseases, according to government data.

Only 11 of the 46 were vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Twenty-five of these patients were aged above 60 and 14 aged between 41 and 60. Five fatalities were recorded in the 21-40 age group, while one patient each from the 0-15 and 16-20 age cohorts succumbed to the infection.

With inputs from agencies

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