Delhi to lift weekend curfew, ease Covid-19 curbs? DDMA to decide on Thursday

The meeting will be chaired by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and is also likely to be attended by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

File Photo

New Delhi: Amid demands of lifting weekend curfew and easing Covid-19 curbs, the national capital's apex coronavirus management body Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) will meet on Thursday (January 27, 2022) to review the pandemic situation in the city.

The meeting will be chaired by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and is scheduled to begin around 12:30 pm. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is also likely to attend the meeting that will discuss relaxations that may be allowed in view of improvement in the Covid-19 situation in the city.

According to a few reports, the government is also likely to take a call on the reopening of schools from February depending on the vaccination status of students by January-end.

Earlier on Friday, the Kejriwal-led Delhi government had proposed lifting the weekend curfew and ending the odd-even scheme for opening shops in view of the pandemic situation but Baijal had suggested maintaining the status quo on the restrictions till the situation improved further.

The decision to impose a weekend curfew was taken by the DDMA on January 1 due to a spike in Covid-19 cases in the capital. The DDMA had also imposed other restrictions including the closure of all private offices dealing with non-essential services. 

Traders in many parts of the city have also been protesting against the restrictions and demanded the curbs be lifted, including those imposed on shops selling non-essential items being permitted to open on alternate days based on the odd-even system.

This is noteworthy that the weekend curfew is implemented from 10 pm on Friday till 5 am on Monday. A night curfew during weekdays is also in place between 10 pm and 5 am.

Covid-19 cases decline in Delhi

The number of fresh Covid-19 infections, however, have come down in the past few days. Delhi on Tuesday reported 6,028 new cases and 31 deaths, while the positivity rate dropped to 10.55 per cent, according to data shared by the health department. The health bulletin showed 9,127 patients were discharged in a day and less than 15 per cent of the Covid beds in hospitals were occupied.

Delhi Health Bulletin - 25th January 2022 #delhiFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/VwxNpZFMPT — CMO Delhi (@CMODelhi) January 25, 2022

On Monday, the capital had logged 5,760 new Covid cases with a positivity rate of 11.79 per cent and 30 deaths. The number of daily cases in Delhi has been declining after touching the record high of 28,867 on January 13. The capital had recorded a positivity rate of 30.6 per cent on January 15, the highest so far in the ongoing wave of the pandemic.

(With agency inputs)