Over half of Delhi citizens want weekend curfew to continue: Survey

Delhi had seen an uptick in Covid infections, mainly triggered by the Omicron variant

Fifty four per cent of Delhiites are in favour of lifting the odd-even restrictions in markets but want the weekend curfew to continue till the positivity rate declines to five per cent, a survey has claimed.

Delhi had seen an uptick in COVID-19 infections, mainly triggered by the Omicron variant, but the cases have seen a decline over the last 10 days.

LocalCircles, a digital community-based platform, asked in its survey, What should be the criteria to remove current COVID-related restrictions (weekend and night curfew, market odd-even shops, etc.) imposed in Delhi?

In response, 40 per cent people said market odd-even restrictions should be relaxed but night and weekend curfew should continue until the positivity rate dropped to five per cent. Another 18 per cent people were of the opinion that the restrictions should be eased only when the positivity rate dropped to five per cent.

Fourteen per cent respondents said they wanted the administration to do away with the restrictions only when the positivity rate came down to two per cent while an equal number of people said the government should continue with the existing setup until the positivity rate dipped down to one per cent.

The remaining 14 per cent of the respondents wanted the government to remove all restrictions immediately, the survey claimed.

On average, 54 per cent of Delhi residents supported the removal of odd-even restrictions in markets.

According to the survey, 72 per cent of the participants wanted the administration to the lift the weekend and night curfews only after the test positivity rate hit five per cent.

The survey received 8,661 responses, of which 65 per cent of the respondents were men and the rest women.

Ahead of the crucial meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Thursday, which will see discussions on the removal of restrictions, the Chamber of Trade and Industry, an organisation of traders in Delhi, reached the L-G House on Wednesday and submitted a memorandum stating that they suffered about 70 per cent losses in the last 25 days and requested the lieutenant governor to lift all curbs.