Delhi Government Imposes New Restrictions; Schools, Gyms And Cinema Halls Closed

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday declared a yellow alert in the wake of a spike in the number of fresh Covid-19 cases, the following restrictions will be imposed in the national capital under Level 1 of the Graded Action Response Plan (GRAP) .

The Delhi government had recently imposed a night curfew from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. However, under the yellow alert, the night curfew will now be enforced from 10 p.m. till 5 a.m.

Schools, colleges, educational institutions, and coaching institutes will remain closed.

Private offices are permitted to function with 50 per cent capacity from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

To limit the number of passengers, interstate buses and the Delhi Metro will run at 50 per cent of its seating capacity and passengers will not be allowed to travel standing up.

While restaurants can operate with 50 per cent capacity from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., bars will be permitted to run also at 50 per cent capacity from 12 noon to 10 p.m.

While, cinema halls, multiplexes, banquet halls and auditoriums will remain closed, salons and beauty parlours will function as usual.

In addition to that, only 20 people will be allowed to attend weddings and funerals.

Addressing a virtual press briefing earlier on Tuesday, Kejriwal said: “Delhi is mostly recording mild and asymptomatic Covid-19 cases. That is why there is no reason to panic. However, to ensure that the infection rate does not rise exponentially, a few restrictions under level 1 (yellow alert) is going to be imposed as the positivity rate continues to be more than 0.5 per cent for the past two days.”

GRAP, approved by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) in July this year, decides which activities would be allowed under what circumstances in case of a surge in Covid-19 cases.

According to the plan, there are four levels of colour-coded alerts namely, yellow, amber, orange and red.

A yellow alert is declared when the infection rate continues to be either at the mark of 0.5 per cent positivity for two consecutive days or crosses it.

Under the Level 1 alert, 1,500 positive cases could be reported in the national capital in a span of one week.