‘Maintain status quo’: Lt Gov Anil Baijal rejects move to lift Delhi curbs

New Delhi: Delhi Lit Governor Anil Baijal on Friday rejected Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s proposal to lift the weekend curfew and curbs on operations of markets amidst the dip in Covid-19 positivity rate. As per sources, Baijal has asked the government to maintain status quo until the Covid-19 situation is completely under control. Chief […]

New Delhi: Delhi Lit Governor Anil Baijal on Friday rejected Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s proposal to lift the weekend curfew and curbs on operations of markets amidst the dip in Covid-19 positivity rate.

As per sources, Baijal has asked the government to maintain status quo until the Covid-19 situation is completely under control.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday wrote to Baijal seeking withdrawal of the weekend curfew and an odd-even system of opening of shops as the positivity rate registered a dip in the national capital.

The weekend curfew in the national capital came into force from January 7 onwards as 17,335 fresh Covid cases were reported in the city — the highest in the last eight months, with the positivity rate increasing to a sharp 17.73 per cent.

The curfew announced by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), depend on the severity of the infection rate, which is decided under the Graded Action Response Plan (GARP) — under which it is decided as to which activities would be allowed under what circumstances in case of a surge in Covid ases. There are four levels of alerts – yellow, amber, orange and red.

Delhi has been under level 1 restrictions under the yellow alert since December 28, 2021.

Delhi’s single-day cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) witnessed a dip on Thursday after 12,306 people tested positive, according to the health bulletin.

The case positivity rate of the national capital also reduced to 21.48 per cent from 23.86 per cent on the preceding day.