Decline in cases: Will schools, gyms, spas reopen? DDMA to decide today
New Delhi: The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) is likely to deliberate on lifting night curfew and reopening of schools during its meeting today in view of the decline in Covid cases here, official sources said on Thursday.
The DDMA, in its meeting on Friday, is likely to discuss lifting of the night curfew, along with other relaxations, including reopening of schools, gyms and spas, sources said.
The DDMA is also likely to review the city government's order which makes it compulsory to wear a mask while driving alone, after the Delhi High Court termed it as "absurd" and asked why the decision was still prevailing.
In the last DDMA meeting, the Delhi government had recommended reopening of schools, saying it was necessary to prevent further damage to the social and economic well-being of children as the COVID-19 situation in the capital had improved.
Asserting that online education can never replace classroom studies, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had said the government had closed schools when it was not safe for children, but "excessive caution" was harming them.
"Now that the DDMA has taken its time and is now considering opening schools in Delhi, we hope they will be guided by experts who have advised that children are at least risk of poor COVID outcomes but face maximum losses and restrictions. Vaccination is not a prerequisite for them to attend school, as is evident from many countries, other Indian States, and experts," said Tanya Aggarwal, a lawyer who has been vocal about the need for reopening schools.
Simran Khara and Dharini Mathur, parents of Delhi school children who have been running an online petition demanding that schools be reopened, said, "We hope that instead of a phased opening starting with senior classes, they allow all classes to open with revised and realistic SOPs which allow children to resume normal hours as soon as possible."
R C Jain, president of the Delhi State Public School's Management Association, said, "It's high time DDMA decides to reopen schools. There has been enough scientific evidence pointing that its safe to reopen schools. Even World Bank has said there is no logic behind keeping the schools closed anymore."
Meanwhile, Delhi on Thursday reported 2,668 fresh COVID-19 cases and 13 deaths, while the positivity rate dropped to 4.3 per cent, according to data shared by the city health department.
With this, the national Capital's case count increased to 18,38,647 and the death toll climbed to 25,932, the latest health bulletin stated.
The number of COVID-19 tests conducted a day ago stood at 61,992, it said.
The number of daily cases in Delhi has been on the decline after touching the record high of 28,867 on January 13.
The city had recorded a positivity rate of 30.6 per cent on January 14, the highest during the ongoing wave of the pandemic. It took just 10 days for daily cases to drop below the 10,000-mark.
The surge in Covid cases in Delhi during the third wave of the pandemic is due to the Omicron variant of the virus which is highly transmissible.
There are 15,426 beds for Covid patients in Delhi hospitals and 1,314 (8.52 per cent) of them were occupied. A total of 1,314 Covid patients were in hospitals, the health department bulletin stated.
The number of people under home isolation stood at 9,581 on Thursday while it was 10,347 a day before, and the number of containment zones in the city stood at 33,708, a fall from 35,961 on Wednesday, the bulletin said.
