Delhi`s Rajiv Chowk metro station witnesses long queues amid spike in COVID-19 cases

Before the COVID-19 outbreak, the overall passenger journeys performed in a day in Delhi metros was around 60 lakh.

Delhi: The Delhi Metro's Rajiv Chowk station on Sunday (November 8, 2020) witnessed long queues outside the station as dozens of people lined up for their turns to undergo the thermal screening and hand sanitisation at the entry and frisking points of the station.

The national capital which is already going through the third wave of coronavirus, saw several people queuing up outside the station that is notoriously overcrowded as it is the closest metro stop that connects with famous areas like Connaught Place, Jantar Mantar and Janpath. 

The Delhi Metro resumed its full-fledged operations from September after almost six months of COVID-19 halt and the long queues were due to the new rules that need every passenger to undergo thermal screening and hand sanitisation at the entry point of stations.

Since the resumption, the trains also halt for few extra seconds to ensure people board and deboard smoothly in adherence to social distancing norms.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) had resumed operations with new norms of social distancing due to coronavirus outbreak and has significantly reduced the number of persons to be carried in a train (occupancy). The DMRC decided it to be around one-fifth of the earlier capacity to ensure social distancing.  

For the safe travels of passengers, the DMRC also introduced peak hour frequency of trains from 8 AM to 8 PM, doing away with the concept of off-peak hours from 11 AM to 4 PM where services were available with fewer trains earlier. 

In addition, the public was also advised to avoid unnecessary travel as far as possible and stagger travel timings for office, home or other works to the extent possible to ‘Break the Peak’ for their own convenience.

This is to be noted that the Delhi Metro operates 389 km of Metro network with 285 stations in Delhi-NCR including Rapid Metro in Gurugram and Aqua Line of Noida-Greater Noida Metro. 

Before the COVID-19 outbreak, the overall passenger journeys performed in a day were around 60 lakh.

The coronavirus situation in the national capital is also alarming as people have started experiencing the third wave of the virus spread. On Saturday, Delhi recorded 6,953 fresh coronavirus cases and 79 deaths. As per officials, the number of fatalities recorded on Saturday is the highest in the last four months.

The total coronavirus tally in Delhi now stands at 4.3 lakh with the positivity rate at 12.11 per cent, according to the latest health bulletin.

Notably, Delhi recorded over 7,000 COVID-19 cases for the first time on Friday.