More curbs in Delhi as COVID-19 cases rise? CM Arvind Kejriwal to address Delhiites today

On Monday, the Delhi government had suspended dine-in facilities at restaurants in the city and shut down bars in view of the surge in coronavirus infections.

File Photo: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal addresses a press conference on the COVID-19 situation on Sunday

New Delhi: A day after the dine-in facility at restaurants in Delhi was suspended and the bars were shut down, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will address the Delhiites today (January 11, 2022).

"Hon'ble Chief Minister of Delhi Shri Arvind Kejriwal will address an important digital press conference today at 12 noon," the Office of the Chief Minister of Delhi tweeted.

Hon'ble CM Shri @ArvindKejriwal will address an important digital press conference at 12 noon today.
Stay tuned. — CMO Delhi (@CMODelhi) January 11, 2022

This comes a day after Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) suspended dine-in facilities at restaurants in the city and shut down bars in view of the surge in coronavirus infections.

The DDMA meeting, chaired by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and attended by Kejriwal, had also discussed ways to strictly enforce existing restrictions to check the spread of the coronavirus and its Omicron variant.

"In view of the increase in positive cases, it was decided to close the restaurants and bars and to allow 'take away' facility only. It was also decided to allow operation of only one weekly market per day per zone," Baijal had tweeted after the DDMA meeting.

Chaired the 31st meeting of DDMA to review the COVID-19 situation in Delhi along with Hon'ble CM @ArvindKejriwal, Hon’ble DyCM @msisodia, Hon’ble Ministers @SatyendarJain & @kgahlot, Dr VK Paul-NITIAayog, Chief Secretary, Prof Balram Bhargava-ICMR, Dr Randeep Guleria-AIIMS, pic.twitter.com/Opzf2kFhBV — LG Delhi (@LtGovDelhi) January 10, 2022

Officers were advised to strictly ensure wearing of masks and adherence to social distancing by citizens in market places and public areas to break the chain of transmission. — LG Delhi (@LtGovDelhi) January 10, 2022

Some participants of the meeting proposed that restrictions imposed in Delhi should be extended to the National Capital Region in view of the unimpeded flow of people between the NCR cities.

The experts and officials of the Delhi government also discussed reducing the seating capacity in Metro trains and city buses from the current 100 per cent to 50 per cent, according to an official present in the meeting.

Earlier on Sunday, Kejriwal had said the rapid speed at which the coronavirus was spreading in Delhi had been a matter of "deep concern", but there was no plan to impose lockdown just yet.

"There would be no lockdown if people wear masks," he had stated. 

Currently, weekend and night curfews are imposed in Delhi as per the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).

17 more COVID-19 deaths, 19,166 new cases in Delhi 

Delhi on Monday recorded 17 more deaths due to COVID-19 and 19,166 infections in a day as the positivity rate rose to 25 per cent, the highest since May 4 last year.

The city currently has 65,803 active cases, of which, 44,028 are in home isolation. 

Delhi Health Bulletin - 10th January 2022 #delhiFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/qK5ANnvmnr — CMO Delhi (@CMODelhi) January 10, 2022

A total of 14,076 people also recovered from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of recoveries to 14,77,913 in the national capital.