DDMA likely to discuss lifting night curfew, reopening schools on Feb 4

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) is likely to deliberate on lifting night curfew and reopening of schools during its meeting on February 4 in view of the decline in Covid cases here, official sources said on Thursday.

The number of daily cases in Delhi has been on the decline after touching the record high of 28,867 on January 13. The city had recorded a positivity rate of 30.6 per cent on January 14, the highest during the ongoing wave of the pandemic.

It took just 10 days for daily cases to drop below the 10,000-mark.

The DDMA, in its meeting on Friday, is likely to discuss lifting of the night curfew, along with other relaxations, including reopening of schools, gyms and spas, sources said.

The DDMA is also likely to review the city government's order which makes it compulsory to wear a mask while driving alone, after the Delhi High Court termed it as "absurd" and asked why the decision was still prevailing.

In the last DDMA meeting, the Delhi government had recommended reopening of schools, saying it was necessary to prevent further damage to the social and economic well-being of children as the COVID-19 situation in the capital had improved.

Asserting that online education can never replace classroom studies, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had said the government had closed schools when it was not safe for children, but "excessive caution" was harming them.

A delegation of parents led by Chandrakant Lahariya, an epidemiologist and public policy specialist, had earlier met Sisodia and submitted a memorandum signed by over 1,600 parents demanding that schools be reopened.

Schools in the city were briefly reopened before being closed again on December 28 last year in view of the third wave of COVID-19 driven by the Omicron variant.