Delhi extends Covid-19 curfew till June 7

New Delhi: As Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday announced that the Capital had reported less than 1,000 new infections for the first time since March 22, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) issued formal orders allowing construction and manufacturing activities starting on Monday.

However, the order extended the Covid-19 curfew currently in place for all other individuals except for essential services till June 7.

"The situation of Covid-19 in NCT of Delhi has again been reviewed and observed that, though the number of Covid-19 patients and positivity rate is declining, the situation is still precarious, therefore, in order to contain the spread of the virus and to further break the transmission chain, curfew needs to be extended for another week in the territory of NCT of Delhi (except for essential activities/services), permitting the reopening of certain prohibited activities in a phased manner in areas outside the containment zones for overall well being of the people of NCT of Delhi," the order said.

The Delhi government has allowed exemptions to two industries — manufacturing and construction. The government in its order said that employees of these two industries will be allowed to operate with strict adherence to Covid-19 preventative measures.

Operations of manufacturing/production units within closed premises in approved industrial areas and construction activities within worksites, the order further added.

"Delhi recorded around 900 cases in the last 24 hours. Cases have come down below 1,000 and the infections decline, we will begin unlocking more activities. We want the economic activities to come on track," Kejriwal said while visiting the Delhi government's drive-in vaccination centre in Chhatrasal Stadium.

Delhi Health minister Satyendar Jain tweeted and shared the health bulletin on Saturday, and emphasised that the daily cases had dropped below the 1,000-mark again, even as he appealed to people to continue to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour.

"People can come to this centre in a car or on a motorcycle. They are also coming on foot. As soon as we receive vaccines for the 18-44 age group, we will also start this for them," he said.

The Delhi government has floated a global Expression of Interest (EOI) for procurement of COVID-19 vaccine on an urgent basis.

"We have done global tender and are hoping that some company comes. Different governments have done global tendering but the results have not been inspiring. If some company approaches us, it will be good. But what I understand is that world over companies want to talk to the Centre for procurement of vaccines," he told reporters.

Delhi on Saturday recorded 956 fresh COVID-19 cases, the lowest in over two months, and 122 more fatalities from the infection while the positivity rate slumped to 1.19 per cent, according to data shared by the health department here.

A total of 80,473 tests, including 56,559 RT-PCR tests and 23,914 rapid antigen tests, were conducted a day ago, according to the health bulletin on Saturday.

The number of cumulative cases on Saturday stood at 14,24,646. Over 13.8 lakh patients have recovered from the virus.