Delhi Extending Weekend Curfew: The Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal will meet Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal at 11 am today on April 19 to discuss the COVID-19 situation in Delhi.
According to the sources, the government of Delhi is trying to extend the weekend curfew that was imposed on the evening of April 16. They are to deliberate whether the weekend curfew should be extended to the weekdays considering the rise in the number of new COVID-19 cases in the capital, for a few days.
According to the sources, the restrictions that are imposed may be increased after the meeting between the Chief Minister and LG Bajaj.
CM Kejriwal announced a weekend curfew the previous week to stop the spread of the virus ad slow down the rising cases of COVID-19 in the state. He said that the curfew was for the safety of the people and the weekend curfew was being imposed to break the chain of COVID-19 in the capital. Kejriwal also said that this wave of the Coronavirus pandemic could be stopped with the help of people.
When did the weekend curfew begin?
The curfew in the national capital began on Friday at 10 pm and was supposed to end at 6 am Monday, April 19. While places like gyms, malls, spas, auditoriums, assembly halls and park were closed, essential services like hospitals, pharmacies and ATMs were still open for public use. Restaurants were closed, however, home delivery was allowed and theatres were said to operate with only 30 per cent capacity. Read more on that here.
What did CM Kejriwal say?
The Chief Minister said that the situation in the capital has become very "serious and worrisome" as hospitals are short on Oxygen stock, Remdesivir and Tocilizumab drugs for the patients. The number of beds in the hospitals is also less and the government is trying to escalate the number of beds on a large scale in the coming days.
He also said that the cases of COVID-19 are rising very fast in Delhi and 24,000 new cases have been reported in the last 24 hours. The number has gone up from 19,500 to 24,000 and the situation is very serious and worrisome. It is needed that we are fully prepared to deal with the emerging situation, said Kejriwal.
COVID-19 Tally in Delhi
On Sunday, the national capital recorded the biggest rise in its daily case count and reported 25,462 new cases. In the last 24 hours, 161 people have died and the positivity rate of the disease rose to 29.74 per cent. About 20,159 people have recovered with a total of 74,941 active cases in the capital. The death toll due to the virus in Delhi has shot up to 12,121 in total.