Arvind Kejriwal calls meeting with top officials to review Covid-19 situation

|HT|

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal called a meeting with top officials on Tuesday to review the Covid-19 situation and discuss if the Capital needs more travel curbs and other restrictions to check the rising number of cases, people aware of the matter said. It comes a day after 331 cases with a 0.68% positivity rate were reported. The administration is deliberating on whether to impose additional restrictions planned under its Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) as the number of active cases has surpassed 1,300 and the test positivity rate has been over 0.5% for two days. As on Monday, 266 Covid-19 patients were admitted to hospitals.

The positivity rate breached one of the thresholds meant to activate stricter curbs such as shutting schools and cinema halls, imposing tighter restrictions on how many people can go to a private office, ride a taxi or take a Metro, and which shops can remain open.

Officials aware of the discussions within the government said these restrictions -- part of the first level of curbs classified as Yellow Alert -- have not been taken yet due to economic considerations, but they remain on the table. “The government has already imposed night curfew and restrictions on celebrations have been imposed. A balance needs to be maintained between curbs for Covid management and the employment and economic interests of people,” an official said, asking not to be named.

(Except for the headline and the pictorial description, this story has not been edited by THE DEN staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)