Delhi Metro trains to run at reduced frequency during weekend curfew

Delhi Metro trains will run at a reduced frequency on April 17-18 in view of the weekend curfew imposed by the city government to contain the spread of COVID-19, officials said.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday had announced sweeping restrictions, including a weekend curfew and the closure of malls, gyms, spas and auditoriums, in a bid to break the chain of COVID infections in the city.

Metro services can be availed by authorised people who have exempted from the restrictions.

"In view of the curfew imposed by the Govt. for coming weekend for the containment of Covid-19, Metro services will be available with a headway of 15 min across the whole network on the weekend i.e, on 17th and 18th April 2021," the DMRC said in a statement.

The two sections, where there is a bifurcation in the network i.e, Noida/Vaishali section of Blue Line and Kirti Nagar/Inderlok section of Green Line, the headway will become double i.e. services will be available after every 30 minutes in these sections, it said.

Delhi recorded 16,699 freshcasesof COVID-19 on Thursday,and 112 fatalities from the coronavirus infection, even as the positivity rate mounted to 20.22 per cent, according to data shared by the health department.

The national capital has left financial capital Mumbai far behind in the daily tally of COVID-19 cases, with an exponential rise in numbers.