New Delhi, (Samajweekly) The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Wednesday decided not to impose restrictions under ‘amber’ alert as of now and continue with the guidelines under ‘yellow’ alert amid rising Covid-19 cases in the national capital.
This decision was taken after Lt Governor Anil Baijal chaired a virtual review meeting of the DDMA also attended by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
The Delhi government on Tuesday declared a yellow or Level 1 alert, which as per the Graded Action Response Plan (GRAP) kicks in if the Covid-19 positivity rate is over 0.5 per cent for two consecutive days.
The GRAP, approved by the DDMA in July this year, decides which activities would be allowed under what circumstances in case of a surge in Covid-19 cases.
“Delhi is mostly recording mild and asymptomatic Covid-19 cases. That is why there is no reason to worry. However, to ensure that the infection rate does not rise exponentially, a few restrictions under Level 1 (yellow alert) is going to be imposed in the national capital as the positivity rate of city continues to be more than 0.5 per cent for the past one-two days,” Kejriwal had said in a virtual press brief Tuesday afternoon.
A number of restrictions have been imposed under the yellow alert to curb the rate of infection, which, if continues to increase, will be strengthened into amber, orange, followed by complete lockdown under the red alert.
Delhi on Tuesday had reported 496 fresh Covid cases, the highest single-day rise after June 4, and one Covid death in the last 24 hours, as per the Health Department bulletin.
The new cases and fatality took the infection tally to 14,44,179, and the death toll to 25,107, while the Covid infection rate rose to 0.89 per cent – the highest since May 31 when it was 0.99 per cent.
The DDMA has put a ban on New Year celebrations.
