Delhi government lifts weekend curfew, odd-even curbs on shops

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), which held a crucial meeting on Thursday to review restrictions in the capital, considered lifting the weekend curfew and odd-even curbs on shops.
The DDMA has also allowed restaurants, bars and cinema halls in the national capital to operate at 50 per cent seating capacity.
The decision to reopen educational institutions, however, will be taken in the next meeting, sources said.The night curfew will also continue for a few more days.
The number of guests allowed in marriage functions has been increased to 200 from 50.
The odd-even scheme for the reopening of shops in the city will be discontinued.
With the positivity rate down to a little over 10 per cent, the DDMA decided to ease the restrictions but also emphasised that the curbs would be re-imposed if the number of Covid-19 cases and test positivity rate showed any upward trend.
Sources said there was an intense discussion over the reopening of schools in a phased manner but the DDMA members decided to wait for a few more days before allowing offline classes for students.
While favouring gradual lifting of restrictions, the DDMA members also emphasised that the agencies must aggressively enforce the Covid Appropriate Behaviour in public places.
“Any laxity in enforcement would lead to the action against the agency concerned,” said an official privy to the discussions in the meeting.
According to officials, the DDMA members also stressed genome sequencing of Covid positive cases to see if the Omicron or the Delta variant of the coronavirus was behind the spread.
The meeting, held in virtual mode, was chaired by lieutenant governor Anil Baijal and attended by DDMA vice-chairman and chief minister Arvind Kejriwal among other ministers and top bureaucrats of the city.
Meanwhile, Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain on Thursday said that the Covid situation is under control in the city. He said that the national capital may report below 5,000 cases by this evening.