Delhi govt announces curfew from tonight till next Monday morning

The Delhi government of India announced a curfew from Monday night till next Monday morning in another attempt to arrest the rising cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), officials said.

The announcement comes after chief minister Kejriwal and lieutenant governor Anil Baijal held a meeting with senior government officers over the Covid-19 situation in the national capital. Delhi, among the worst hit cities in India, has already imposed a weekend curfew as well as a 10pm-5am night curfew restrictions that are in place until April 30.

Delhi on Sunday recorded the biggest jump in its daily Covid-19 tally with 25,462 fresh cases as the positivity rate shot up to 29.74 per cent–almost every third sample being tested in the city is turning out to be positive for the coronavirus disease.

Amid the spiralling cases, chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said Delhi is facing an “acute shortage” of oxygen and beds for Covid-19 patients and alleged that the quota of the city has been diverted to other states.

The chief minister’s remarks came hours after he wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his help with hospital beds and immediate oxygen supply.

“Del facing acute shortage of oxygen. In view of sharply increasing cases, Del needs much more than normal supply. Rather than increasing supply, our normal supply has been sharply reduced and Delhi’s quota has been diverted to other states.

OXYGEN HAS BECOME AN EMERGENCY IN DEL,” he later tweeted.

The Centre, however, dismissed Kejriwal’s claims as “blatant lies” and and an official said there was no panic situation in Delhi regarding oxygen.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair a meeting on the pandemic situation at 11:30am on Monday as the country reported a massive surge in coronavirus disease cases across the country, with several chief ministers complaining of a shortage of essentials like oxygen supply and medicines like Remdesivir, and seeking the Centre’s intervention.

India’s tally of Covid-19 cases crossed the 15-million mark with a record single-day rise of 273,810 infections and the active cases surpassed the 1.9 million mark, according to the Union ministry of health and family welfare.