Delhi: All private offices closed, restaurants and bars shut for dine-in amid surge in Covid-19 cases

New Delhi: Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Tuesday ordered the closure of all private offices in Delhi except those falling under the exempted category, after Covid-19 positivity rate in the city crossed 23 per cent on Monday indicating that every fourth person is now carrying the infection.

The private offices, which were till now operating with 50 per cent workforce, have been asked to follow the practice of work from home. Meanwhile, those catering for emergency services are allowed to remain open, according to the latest order by the DDMA.

The authority also ordered bars and restaurants to shut down for dine-in services and only takeaway/home delivery is allowed for the food items.

The latest order has come after a day DDMA convened a meeting chaired by Delhi LG Anil Baijal in which Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and experts from various central bodies attended.

"In view of the increase in positive cases, it has been decided to close the restaurants and bars and to allow take away facility only. Only one weekly market per day per zone will be allowed to operate," Baijal tweeted after the meeting on Monday.

Besides, the health department has been advised to make adequate arrangements for the additional manpower in hospitals and to scale up the vaccination efforts, including those in the population between 15 and 18 years, he added to his tweet.

The DDMA meeting also decided that no lockdown will be imposed in the city. However, the restrictions will be tightened further to control the spike in Covid-19 cases.

Curfew on weekends along with restrictions at the night is already in place.

According to the health bulletin, the positivity rate has climbed to 23.53 per cent. On Sunday, the national capital reported 22,751 fresh Covid-19 cases, the highest in the last eight months, after recording 25,219 cases on May 1. With this, the infection tally has now reached 15,49,730, and active Covid cases stand at 60,733, the highest since May 16. (UNI)