Plea in HC urges strict lockdown in Delhi as Covid-19 cases rise sharply

A PIL has been moved in the Delhi High Court seeking a direction to the AAP government to impose a strict lockdown in the national capital in view of the rising number of Covid-19 cases here.

The plea, by a lawyer and his office boy, has said the Delhi government itself admitted there would be around one lakh Covid-19 cases in the national capital by end of June and the number would escalate to around 2.25 lakh by mid-July and over 5.5 lakh by July end.

In such a scenario, the government should consider imposing strict lockdown in Delhi, the plea by lawyer Anirban Mondal and his employee Pawan Kumar has contended.

The petition, filed through advocate Mridul Chakravarty, has also sought a direction to the Delhi government to consider constituting an expert committee of doctors, medical specialists and virologists to prepare a "detailed blue print" for controlling or containing the spread of the virus.

The petitioners have sought imposition of lockdown on the ground that during the earlier lockdown period the rate of increase in cases was low.

They claimed that by allowing movement of people and activities in the national capital like reopening of public transport, religious places, malls, restaurants/ hotels, "the spread of the virus has severely spiked, resulting in a sharp rise in numbers of the daily cases of Covid-19".

The petition also alleged that there already exists a huge deficiency in the number of adequate beds/ ventilators/ ICU wards/ testing facilities in Delhi for dealing with Covid-19 and therefore, with increase in infections the situation in Delhi could get "darker" and "unmanageable".

It has also contended that the forthcoming rise in cases could send the healthcare infrastructure in Delhi into disarray.

"That, primary focus/efforts/ resources of the State, as of right now should not be on the monetary/ economic aspects, but on health and safety of its people," the petition has also said.