India declares weekend Covid curfew in New Delhi

India has declared a weekend curfew in New Delhi as Covid cases reported a surge in the capital, the Indian media reported.?

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) said that all services, except shops selling essential items such as groceries, will be shut over the weekend. This includes malls, markets and restaurants. Since a night curfew is already in place, the curfew will be in effect between 10 pm Friday and 5 am Monday, the Indian Express reported.

The national capital is the first major metro to announce such stringent curbs, as a fresh Covid wave, driven largely by the more transmissible?Omicron?variant, sweeps across the country.

According to the Delhi government?s health bulletin issued on Tuesday, 5,481 cases were reported at a positivity rate of 8.37 per cent, up more than two percentage points in a day. There are 531 people admitted in hospitals, up from 420 on Monday. Of these, 308 are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms and 168 are on oxygen support, up from 124 on Monday. The number of patients on ventilator support, however, has doubled to 14 in a day?s time.

Announcing the weekend curfew, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that while the?hospitalisation rate over the past two weeks remains low, caution needs to be exercised to ensure that healthcare facilities are not overwhelmed.