NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said that his government has decided to extend the ongoing lockdown in the national capital for another week, till May 24. The lockdown imposed on April 19 has been extended for the fourth time.
It was scheduled to end at 5 am on May 17. The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) in an order issued on Sunday stated that the lockdown has been extended till 5 am on May 24 to contain the spread of the coronavirus and to break its chain of transmission.
“The number of Covid cases is decreasing in Delhi and the recovery has increased but we do not want to lose this gain, therefore, lockdown is extended. In the past 24 hours Delhi has reported around 6,500 cases and the positivity rate has come down to 10 per cent from 11 per cent,” said Kejriwal, who visited the GTB Hospital to review the progress of works and the video-calling facility for Covid patients with their family members.
“The lockdown was imposed till tomorrow morning 5 am. We don’t want to lose the gains we already made. Rather than tomorrow 5 am, the lockdown in Delhi is being extended till 5 am on May 24,” he said in his media briefing.
The chief minister said that by next week, he is hoping for more recovery and that Delhi is slowly coming back on track. The restrictions imposed under the lockdown, including suspension of metro train services, will remain in force till May 24 morning.
“The lockdown is to continue and no concessions will be given. Regarding Covaxin and Covishield vaccines, we have written to both the Central government and the two manufacturing companies (Punebased Serum Institute of India and Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech) to provide us with necessary doses of vaccines. ” the chief minister further said.
“However, there is no indication of these vaccines being given to us.” The Delhi government will take all necessary precautions and measures to deal with ‘Black Fungus’ infections reported in Covid patients, the chief minister added.