Amid rising cases of COVID-19 in Delhi, the national capital will go under a six-day lockdown beginning Monday night, 19 April till Monday morning, 26 April, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced in a press briefing. Delhi on Sunday reported 25,462 fresh COVID-19 cases and a test positivity rate of nearly 30 percent.
The curfew will start from 10 pm on 19 April and will go on till 5 am on 26 April.
However, during the week-long lockdown, essential services, food services and medical services will continue.
Meanwhile, later in the evening, the Delhi Government issued a circular advancing summer vacations in all city schools. In view of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic situation, the summer vacation during Academic Session 2021-2022 are hereby rescheduled and will be observed from 20 April to 9 June," said the Directorate of Education (DoE) in an official order.
CM Kejriwal also said that he appreciates that many weddings have been planned at this time with much effort and for that, passes will be issued separately. Wedding gatherings can be held with 50 people, he reiterated.
“Delhi is facing the fourth wave of COVID-19...25,000 cases have been reported now. Delhi's health system has reached its limits. I won’t say that the system has collapsed but it has reached its limits,” Kejriwal said, stressing that the COVID situation in Delhi is grim.
“Delhi’s health system has been stretched to its limit, is under stress. Harsh measures will have to be taken to prevent a collapse of the health system,” Kejriwal said as he announced that lockdown remained the only way to manage the situation at hand.
“There is a lack of beds in Delhi hospitals. ICU beds are nearly finished. Less than 100 ICU beds are left. There is a shortage of oxygen beds. I am not telling all this to scare you. This is the reality”Arvind Kejriwal
A detailed order will be issued shortly which will have all the details of this curfew, CM Kejriwal said, assuring that this lockdown would be a short one and would be over soon.
He also asked people to place their faith in him and asked migrant labourers not to leave the city as the government will take strong measures to improve the situation in the capital during this time.
“It's a small lockdown, only for six days. Don't leave Delhi and go. I'm very hopeful that we won't need to extend the lockdown. The government will take care of you,” he said.
“In the next six days, we will make arrangements for more beds in Delhi. The lockdown period will be used to arrange for oxygen and medicine,” he added.
‘Break the Chain of Transmission’
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday had announced that Delhi would go under a weekend curfew from Friday night till Monday morning amid a surge in COVID cases.
The weekend curfew was instituted to "break the chain of transmission", but Delhi over the weekend, reported a record rise in COVID cases, as well as a shortage of medical oxygen, hospital beds and Remdesivir.
'Don't Leave Delhi During Lockdown'
Delhi Police Commissioner SN Shrivastava appealed to the residents of Delhi to stay indoors. "We sympathise with the migrant labourers who in anticipation of losing jobs may be thinking of returning home. My appeal to them is that they should remain in Delhi. We will ensure that they are looked after," he said, reported news agency ANI.
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