Will Covid-19 curbs be eased in Delhi? DDMA to decide tomorrow

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) will hold a crucial meeting on Thursday on the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) situation in the national capital. The meeting, to be chaired by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, will discuss whether Covid-19 curbs should be eased in Delhi.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal will also be present in the meeting which will be held at 12.30pm on January 27.

The clamour to start unlocking Delhi has been gaining momentum amid a fall in Covid-19 cases and consistently low hospitalisation rates. The Delhi government’s health department has already recommended that businesses activities in the national capital should be allowed to resume without restrictions.

Private schools have also urged the authorities to bring children back to the classrooms.

Last week, the Delhi government allowed all private offices in the National Capital Territory of Delhi, outside of Containment Zones, to function with upto 50 per cent attendance. The DDMA had, however, advised the private offices to stagger office timing, presence and quantum of staff.

Earlier this month, the DDMA decided to impose a weekend curfew in Delhi - from 10pm on Friday to 5am on Monday - to curb the Covid-19 surge.

Over the last week, the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and a variety of trade groups made repeated appeals to Baijal to rethink continuing restrictions such as the weekend curfew, the night curfew and a rule to allow only alternate shops in marketplaces to open in light of the infection trends. Since hitting a peak on January 13, the number of new cases in the city has been steadily declining.

A group of traders even protested in Rohini on Monday against the DDMA’s decision not to lift the curbs.

Meanwhile, Delhi reported a marginal spike in its Covid-19 tally on Tuesday after 6,028 people tested positive for the disease. This was a surge of 268 cases from Monday’s tally of 5,760 infections.

The cumulative tally of Delhi has now climbed to 18,03,499, according to health bulletin.

The capital's case positivity rate, however, continued its downward trend, further dipping to 10.55% on Tuesday from 11.79% on the preceding day.