New Delhi: The Delhi government has decided not to relax the ongoing lockdown as of now as the coronavirus appears to be spreading in the national capital, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Sunday.
Addressing a video conference, Kejriwal said the government will assess the situation again after one week as the number of cases have continued to rise in the national capital.
Delhi has the second highest number of cases, after Maharashtra, with 1,893 infected patients. Kejriwal said even though Delhi accounts for 2% of India’s population, the cases account for 12% of the total in the country. Delhi has 77 containment zones, which have been sealed to control the spread of the deadly disease.
As the virus has started spreading, containment zones have been increased, he said, but assured the situation is under control. "There have been instances where people without symptoms were found infected by Covid-19."
The chief minister cited the Tablighi Jamaat markaz incident as the reason for the spread of the virus, and also said that as it is the capital, the number of foreign travellers here was also high.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week had said areas that do not have any hotspots or show improvement in reducing the number of cases will see some relaxation in the lockdown. He announced extending the national lockdown till 3 May.
“We need to decide if there should be a relaxation in Delhi. According to the central government notification, containment zones and hotspots should not be given a relaxation. Delhi has 11 districts and all have cases. We have also held meetings with experts. The last few days have seen a spike in total cases, we have also started testing more. Yesterday, of the tests we did, 25% tested positive. All the patients are asymptomatic. They didn’t know they had coronavirus. This is even more worrying," Kejriwal said, addressing the digital press conference.
In the Centre's list of red, white and green zones, 10 of 11 districts fell in the red zone, with nine have large oubtreaks and one with a cluster outbreak.
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