NEW DELHI: 'Marriages will continue to take place despite recession or inflation' - the dialogue from the popular Bollywood film 'Band Baaja Baaraat' may not ring true in 2021, thanks to the myriad ways the COVID-19 pandemic has affected industries across the world.
With yellow alert being sounded in Delhi amid rising COVID-19 cases, the wedding industry is staring at a bleak future.
As the Delhi government allows only 20 guests at marriage events, many are rushing to cancel the bookings, leaving the industry in the lurch.
Anil Thadani, owner of Jea Band, says, "People are cancelling weddings and asking for refunds. The workers are upset. Many weddings were planned from January 20. Only Delhi has implemented these restrictions, other states like Haryana and cities like Mumbai still allow 200 guests at weddings. How will we refund the money of people?" He shares that a family cancelled the wedding which was to take place as recent as Thursday, when the vendors have already made all the preparations.
Amit Kedia, a resident of Karol Bagh, whose nephew's wedding is planned for January 20, says they have cancelled a majority of the bookings, but are finding it difficult to get the money refunded.
The wedding was planned at a five star hotel in Aerocity, but the family now is undecided.
"Where will the common man go? The vendors say they have made all preparations and some have put a rider saying they cannot be held responsible for last minute changes."
"Whenever there is a wedding, preparations begin well in advance with invites being sent and shopping done, but now we are left confused. We cannot get the wedding solmenised in a temple because visitors are not allowed in religious places under the yellow alert, neither can we put up a tent. We are thinking whether we should have the wedding function at home or postpone it," he rues.
Kedia adds that they cannot even invite the families of the bride and groom under the 20-person attendance cap.
Rajeev Jain, owner of Rashi Entertainment, says the wedding industry is a responsible industry and has been following all the COVID-19 norms.
"Please do not single us out since we are the softest target. The wedding season will begin from January 19 and go on till February 21. Five star hotels follow all the precautions while hosting weddings. Their staff are tested for the virus at regular intervals and even the guests are not allowed without test reports."
"Instead of imposing restrictions like these, the government should tighten enforcement and make complete vaccination necessary for weddings. The vaccination certificates of guests can be checked when they arrive for weddings. We have been following all the precautions like wearing masks, maintaining hygiene, among others," he adds.
Jain says the industry has suffered a lot since the outbreak of the pandemic and the government has not helped it in any way.
Burgeoning coronavirus cases are taking a toll on the restaurant owners and event organisers here who are facing frequent cancellations of parties and bookings as part of New Year celebrations.
More than 200 pub and bar operators have been hit with the New Year's Eve parties, concerts etc, according to officials of the Excise and Taxation department.
Though no formal order has been issued specifically about cancellation, but the administration has announced strict adherence to night curfew, barring any essential travel on roads.
"All non-essential travel will be barred from 11 pm.
We will not allow any celebration travel or ruckus on roads.
Covid cases are rising so we should take care," said Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner Yash Garg.
When contacted, police commissioner KK Rao said police will be deployed across the city to ensure compliance of the curfew and Covid protocols.
This has come as a major blow to party venues as 20 per cent of bookings made in advance have been cancelled, the Excise and Taxation department officials said.
"Every restaurant had arranged for artists, parties and celebrations for the New Year Eve celebrations but due to night curfew all these parties are now getting cancelled," said Shashank Kumar, manager of a bar in sector 29 market.
"After the decision of night curfew, people are withdrawing their booking of parties. From Christmas to New Year Eve celebrations, many big parties were booked, which are now being cancelled and we are forced to return advances," said bar operator Vijay Pal Yadav.
Sector 29-based Bella Club had made a drink free for the people for the New Year celebrations, but now they have cancelled this offer due to the imposition of night curfew.
Another club -- The Local -- had kept the rate Rs 5,499 for couple entry, but now it has been slashed to Rs 4,400.
Some other club, bar and restaurants also changed their decisions and plans.
The Excise Department has warned that action will be taken if any such establishment is found operating beyond 11 pm on the New Year's Eve.
"We have formed teams and deployed them at different places," said V K Beniwal, Deputy Commissioner of the Excise Department.
Gurugram recorded 151 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, the highest single-day spike in the last six months.
The fresh cases pushed the active case count to 502 in the district, according to official data.
The district has also reported three cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus so far.
Delhi on Wednesday reported a massive jump in daily COVID-19 infections with 923 fresh cases, the highest since May 30 and 86 per cent up from a day earlier, even as the city government decided to continue with existing restrictions under the 'yellow alert' for a while before announcing more curbs.
After six months, the positivity rate crossed 1 per cent as it was recorded at 1.29 per cent.
On December 20, there were only 91 COVID-19 cases in the national capital and the figure climbed to nearly 1,000-mark with fresh 923 infections on Wednesday.
The city also recorded 238 Omicron cases on Wednesday.
There were 165 cases of the new variant a day earlier.
According to authorities, about 38 per cent of the total samples analysed at various genome sequencing laboratories in Delhi in the last one week have been detected with Omicron variant of Covid.
"Of the 468 samples analysed during December 21-28, the Delta variant of coronavirus has been detected in 31 per cent of these samples, and rest 30 per cent constituted other variants," official sources said.
Earlier in the day, Health Minister Satyendra Jain said many international travellers, who have tested negative at the airport, are testing positive after a few days and infecting their family members during the period.
"The cases have increased due to international flights. Even during the earlier wave, the cases rose with flights coming in," he told reporters.
A senior government official said out of 14 Omicron cases in southeast Delhi, seven did not have any travel history.
He claimed that the new variant has been "spreading in the community", even as he did not divulge any further details.
In a week's time, the positivity rate of coronavirus cases jumped to 1.29 per cent from 0.19 per cent in Delhi between December 23 and 29.
A similar trend was witnessed in the total number of coronavirus cases.
Meanwhile, Lt Governor Anil Baijal chaired a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) where it was decided to continue with the existing restrictions imposed recently in view of rising cases and to keep a close vigil on the ground situation.
The DDMA had on Tuesday declared 'yellow alert' under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) in the city amid a spike in coronavirus cases following the emergence of the virus's Omicron variant.
The 'yellow alert' entailed restrictions like night curfew, closure of schools and colleges, opening of shops selling non-essential items on an odd-even basis, halved seating capacity in Metro trains and buses, among other things.
The authorities are in favour of monitoring the situation for some more time and to avoid imposing further restrictions under 'amber alert', officials said on Wednesday.
"The important thing is that hospital bed occupancy is low. It was decided that enforcement of existing restrictions should be strictly followed so that infections are contained at the most. The further restrictions under 'Amber' (Level 2) alert could be implemented if the need arises," said a senior government officer.
An 'amber alert' is declared when the positivity rate is recorded at one per cent or above for two consecutive days.
It involves imposition of weekend curfew, closure of restaurants and bars, seating capacity reduced to 33 per cent in Metro trains, closing non essential shops by 6 pm, among others.
During the meeting that was also attended by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, it was decided to ensure strict implementation of restrictions imposed under the 'yellow alert'.
In case, the situation worsens, emergency measures may be imposed, officials said.
On May 30, Delhi had recorded 946 COVID-19 cases and 78 deaths with a positivity rate of 1.25 per cent.
Wednesday's positivity rate is the highest since May 28, when the positivity rate was recorded at 1.59 per cent.
On Tuesday, the city saw 496 COVID-19 cases and one fatality due to the disease.
Delhi on Monday had recorded 331 fresh COVID-19 cases, the highest single-day rise since June 9, and one death while the positivity rate mounted to 0.68 per cent, according to the data.
On Sunday, Delhi logged 290 cases with a positivity rate of 0.55 per cent and one fatality, according to official figures.
On Saturday and on Friday, the daily case counts were 249 and 180 respectively.
A total of 71,696 COVID-19 tests were conducted the previous day, including 64,233 RT-PCR ones, while the rest were rapid antigen ones, the bulletin said.
There are 2,191 active cases in the national capital, up from 1,612 a day ago.
As many as 1,068 patients are in home isolation, up from 836 on Tuesday, it said.
The number of containment zones stands at 502, a significant increase from 397 the previous day.
The bulletin said 55 patients with moderate level of infection are on oxygen.
It stated that 115 patients were shifted from the airport to hospital and they are either asymptomatic or have mild symptoms.
A total of 145 patients have mild symptoms.
There are no patients who are on ventilator support.
A total of 200 patients are in hospitals, including 98 from outside Delhi.
The number of people under home isolation stood at 692 on Monday, while it rose to 836 on Tuesday, and the number of containment zones in the city stood at 397, a significant jump from 310 on Monday, the bulletin added.
The COVID-19 positivity rate in Delhi has jumped to 1.29 per cent from 0.19 per cent between December 23 and December 29, according to government data.
A similar trend was witnessed in the number of cases.
The number of Covid cases under the "cumulative new cases for last seven days" category jumped to 1,789 on December 28 from 698 on December 23.
The national capital has been witnessing a rise in the number of COVID-19 cases as well as the positivity rate for the last 10 days.
The city has also been witnessing a steady increase in the number of cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, which stood at 238 on Wednesday.
According to the data, the positivity rate was 0.19 per cent on December 23 and it went up to 1.29 per cent on December 29 (Wednesday).
The data showed that the positivity rate climbed steadily over the last seven days.
On December 24, it reached 0.29 per cent and then jumped to 0.43 per cent on Christmas (December 25).
On December 26, the positivity rate went up to 0.55 per cent.
On December 27, it again breached the 0.5-per cent mark and stood at 0.68 per cent, prompting the Delhi government to announce a "yellow" alert and impose restrictions on certain activities on Tuesday (December 28).
On December 28, the city recorded 496 fresh Covid cases with a positivity rate of 0.89 per cent.
On Wednesday, the positivity rate breached the one-per cent mark and stood at 1.29 per cent with 923 fresh cases.
The data showed that the daily bed occupancy in the city also grew steadily between December 25 and 28.
On December 25, the daily bed occupancy was 221, which went up to 230 the next day.
On December 27, the daily bed occupancy was 266 and it climbed to 280 on December 28 (Tuesday).