A healthworker collects swab sample for Covid-19 test at Old Delhi Ajmerigate in New Delhi.Delhi News Updates: The number of fresh Covid-19 cases detected in Delhi on Thursday slipped to 4,291 from 7,498 registered on Wednesday, taking the positivity rate down to 9.56 per cent. According to the government health bulletin, the national capital also saw 34 new deaths out of Covid infections, and 9,397 recoveries.
The weekend curfew in the national capital has been lifted, along with restrictions at markets and malls. Cinema halls and restaurants will be permitted to reopen with 50 per cent capacity, while guests at weddings will be capped at 200. Government offices will function at 50 per cent capacity. Educational institutions will remain closed, and night curfew will continue.
The new rules were announced after the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) held a meeting to take stock of the Covid-19 situation in the city. The meeting was attended by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and DDMA Chairman and Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, along with other experts and officials.
Men Welfare Trust (MWT), one of the NGOs opposing the case seeking criminalisation of marital rape, on Thursday before Delhi High Court argued that foreign jurisdictions have preferred to call such an act ‘spousal sexual violence’ to try and protect the ‘institution of marriage’ so that there are “no deleterious consequences” or “psychological effects” of the word ‘rape’ being used in the context of marriage.
“My clients are certainly not against recognising spousal sexual violence. They are merely saying it merits a separate and slightly special treatment which the legislature has already done. In addition, the special treatment has been accorded to it in other jurisdictions also,” submitted advocate J. Sai Deepak, who represented MWT, before the division bench of Justice Rajiv Shakdher and Justice C. Hari Shankar. Read more
The number of coronavirus cases in Delhi dropped below the 5,000-mark on Thursday, 24 days since January 4 when 4,099 cases were reported.
The capital reported 4,291 cases on Thursday. As fewer tests were conducted on Republic Day, the positivity rate has dropped below 10%, the daily health bulletin revealed. Read more
The number of fresh Covid-19 cases detected in Delhi on Thursday slipped to 4,291 from 7,498 registered on Wednesday, taking the positivity rate down to 9.56 per cent. According to the government health bulletin, the national capital also saw 34 new deaths out of Covid infections, and 9,397 recoveries.
Are we really in the pandemic's endgame? Dr Anurag Agarwal explains in conversation with Express journalist Amitabh Sinha.
A Delhi court Thursday sought an action taken report (ATR) from the police on a plea filed against Sudarshan TV Editor-in-Chief Suresh Chavhanke for allegedly delivering communally divisive speeches at an event in southeast Delhi’s Govindpuri area.
The application was filed by Dr SQR Illiyas, president of the Welfare Party of India. His son, former JNU student Umar Khalid, is currently in judicial custody in a UAPA case related to the Delhi riots, in which a sessions court is hearing his bail application. Read More
At the DDMA review meeting held on Thursday, while the government decided to ease Covid-19 restrictions in the city, schools and colleges will remain shut.
Delhi will no longer have the weekend curfew which was imposed on January 1, 2021. Here is the list of activities allowed in the capital-
1. Cinema halls and restaurants allowed to open with 50 percent capacity
2. Wedding functions allowed with 50 percent capacity with maximum limit of 200.
The DDMA on Thursday decided to ease Covid restrictions in the city. The government has decided to remove the odd-even rule in markets currently imposed in the city.
1. Cinema halls also to be permitted to open at 50% capacity. Weddings to be permitted with a cap of 200 peolle. Government offices to function at 50% capacity .
2. All education institutions to continue to remian closed. Night curfew to remain in place.
3. Restaurants allowed to open with 50 percent capacity.
4. Schools to be taken up in the next DDMA meeting.
5. Night curfew to remain
6. Weekend curfew to go
7. Odd even to go
8. Enhancement of COVID Appropriate/ Compliant Behaviour
9. Strict enforcement
10. Marriages- 200/50% capacity
11. Bars Restaurants- 50%
The Delhi government on Thursday decided to lift the weekend curfew, odd-even restrictions in markets. The decision was taken at DDMA meeting chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and L-G.
A 20-year-old woman was allegedly abducted, sexually assaulted and publicly humiliated by her neighbours who paraded her on the streets of Delhi’s Shahdara over “personal enmity”, police said on Thursday. Police said the accused also allegedly chopped off the woman’s hair and forced her to wear a garland of slippers around her neck.
The Delhi Commission for Women has written to the Delhi Police to take strict action against the accused after several videos of the abuse went viral on social media. Read more
Actor Juhi Chawla appears virtually before Delhi High Court on Thursday. The court says it has no doubt that she had good intentions when she filed the suit challenging introduction of 5G technology in India.
'May be you should have had better counsel. Your issue got sidetracked because of these (technical) issues,' the court told Chawla. Chawla told the court that she would be happy to help in public interest and thanked it for deciding to reduce the costs. She also explained her cause before the court.
'There are unknown hazards of 5G technology. In principle I feel I did no wrong,' Chawla submitted before the court, while seeking expunging of the adverse observations against her in the judgement passed by the single bench last year.
Delhi State Legal Services Authority Member Secretary Kanwal Jeet Arora earlier submitted before the court that Chawla could become brand ambassador for the authority and work for the cause of marginalized women and children. Arora also told the court that he is a fan of Chawla and appreciates her work in Gulaab Gang.
It appears to us that plaintiffs themselves should not be made to share the blame or consequences for the manner in which the suit and applications were drafted. Learned Single Bench was also distributed by the fact that weblink was shared to the public at large which led to disruption in the proceedings. Miss Chawla has stated that she had raised the issue in the suit in all seriousness and also states that she also did not expect the proceedings to go the way they did.
Work on the 82-km Rapid Rail Transit Corridor (RRTS) connecting Delhi to Meerut is in full swing, with the 17-km priority section from Ghaziabad to Duhai to be ready by 2023. Once fully operational, officials estimate that it will reduce CO2 emissions by taking around 1.5 lakh private vehicles off the road.
“The corridor is estimated to reduce 2.5 lakh CO2e/year of total annual greenhouse gas emissions, making the city a cleaner and a much better place to live. It is also estimated to increase the share of public transportation usage along the corridor from 37% to 63%. It will further take more than 1 lakh private vehicles off the road and help decongest the NCR, which lacks a public transport system,” said a senior official of the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC). Read more
The visibility in Delhi on Thursday morning in Safdarjung and Palam was recorded at 1000m. Here are the minimum temperatures recorded in Delhi today-
Safdarjung 6.3
Palam 7.3
Lodhi road 5.8
Departure:
Safdarjung. -3
Palam -1
Lodhi road -2
It’s known as one of Delhi University’s premier institutions, ranked 14 for colleges under the Government’s National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF). But this year, Hansraj College’s bio has a unique addition that has already sparked a buzz — a cow protection and research centre.
Called Swami Dayanand Saraswati Gau-Samwardhan ewam Anusandhan Kendra, the centre has been started with one cow and, according to principal Dr Rama, will be expanded “if the research that is done proves to be useful and beneficial” Read more
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal unfurled one of the 75 high-mast national flags that are being installed across Delhi today.
“It is a proud day for the entire nation. Today, at 75 locations in the national capital, 115-foot-tall Tricolours have been installed to celebrate 75 years of Independence. Our aim is to install 500 such flags across the city. The target was to set up all 500 by Jan 26, but it was delayed due to air pollution and COVID-related restrictions," Kejriwal said.
He added, "In the next few months, the 500 flags will be ready. Our aim is that whenever anybody leaves home and heads towards their workplace, they will see the national flag two to three times in a day. We get so caught up with our families and lives that we forget the country and society. When people see the flags now, they will be reminded of deshbhakti, the country, and the people who sacrificed everything for the nation."
Covid-19 vaccination numbers in Delhi reamined low on Republic Day with only 538 doses being administered, as per data on the government’s CoWIN portal. The capital on average has administered 72,864 doses each day over the last seven days.
There was a dip in vaccination across the country as well, with 21.9 lakh doses administered on Republic Day, which is about a third of the 64.9 lakh doses administered on average during the last seven days.
Delhi has already administered over 169 lakh first doses in adults as against an estimated nearly 150 lakh eligible people over the age of 18 years, completing 100 per cent coverage. Around 122 lakh second doses have also been administered so far, covering 81 per cent of the adult population. Read more