Delhi to remain under lockdown till May 24

New Delhi: Corona infection is now weakening in the Capital, but the number of deaths from it still remains around 250. Amid this, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has extended the lockdown period in Delhi once again. Now the lockdown will remain in Delhi till 5 am on the next Monday i.e. May 24. He said the gains made so far in combating COVID-19 cannot be lost due to any relaxations now.

During a visit to the GTB Hospital, he said Delhi has recorded a "good level" of COVID-19 recoveries in the past few days and the number of cases is also reducing "very fast".

"But we do not want the gains made in the past few days to be lost all of a sudden. So, the lockdown is being extended for another week till 5 am on May 24," Kejriwal said.

The lockdown imposed on April 19 has been extended for the fourth time till May 24 morning. It was scheduled to end at 5 am on May 17.

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) in an order issued on Sunday stated that the lockdown has been extended till 5 am on May 24 to contain the spread of the coronavirus and to break its chain of transmission.

The restrictions imposed under the lockdown, including suspension of metro train services, will remain in force till May 24 morning.

"There is no relaxation as of now and all the restrictions that were enforced in this week will continue," Chief Minister Kejriwal said.

He said that Delhi has recorded around 6,500 COVID 19 cases in past 24 hours and positivity rate has further gone down to nearly 10 per cent.

It was 11.32 per cent on Saturday.

"I hope there will be more recoveries from COVID-19 in the next one week," Kejriwal said.

He said his government has written to the Centre and two companies in the country for COVID-19 vaccines but there is no indication yet that doses will be arriving.

He also said that the Delhi government will take all necessary steps and precautions to check cases of black fungus or mucormycosis in the city.

The fungal infection is caused by a group of moulds known as mucormycetes present naturally in the environment.

Recently, several states, including Delhi, have reported a rise in the number of black fungus cases among people recovering from COVID-19.

"For the black fungus (cases), the Delhi government will take all the steps and precautions necessary," Kejriwal said in a statement.