Kejriwal puts Delhi under weekend curfew as Covid-19 cases spike

Delhi will be under curfew on weekends to contain rising Covid-19 cases, said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday as the city’s hospitals struggled to treat a rush of patients.

Essential activities, including weddings, will be allowed with curfew passes. Auditoriums, malls, gyms and spas will be shut down and cinema theatres will be allowed with a third of the capacity.

"We have decided to imposed weekend Curfew in Delhi,” said Kejriwal at a press conference, adding that the city has enough hospital beds to treat Covid-19 patients.

One weekly market per day per municipal zone. People will not be allowed to dine in at restaurants, only home deliveries permitted.

Delhi on Thursday reported 17,282 new Covid-19 cases: the most in a single day. It recorded 104 deaths from the disease, taking total causalities to 11,540. The city’s positivity rate--the proportion of samples that test positive--has increased to 15.92 per cent, compared to 13.14 per cent on Tuesday.

The national capital last week imposed a curfew from 10 pm to 5 am, till April 30 in the wake of rising Covid-19 cases, with Kejriwal saying that the healthcare system would collapse 

India reported more than 200,000 new infections on Thursday -- its highest one-day surge since the pandemic broke out -- as a deadlier new wave grips the world’s second worst-hit country.

With 200,739 new cases, the outbreak in the county has gone past 14 million. Casualties rose to 173,123 while more than 114 millionvaccine doses have been administered, according to latest data from India’s health ministry.