The Delhi government on Wednesday said that it has asked District Magistrates to closely keep a tab on cinema halls, malls, Metro trains, and religious places in the national capital in view of the rising coronavirus cases.
The order came a day after Delhi reported 1,101 COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, the highest single-day spike since December 24.
“In the wake of the increasing number of COVID-19 cases, cinema halls, malls, Metro and religious places have been called ‘super spreader’ areas. All DMs have been instructed to increase surveillance in (these) areas,” the Delhi government said today.
On Tuesday, a ban was imposed in Delhi on public celebrations during the upcoming festivals of Holi and Navaratri. The order to this effect was issued by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA).
“All authorities concerned will ensure that public celebrations and gatherings, congregations during upcoming festivals like Holi, Shab-e-Barat, Navaratri, etc shall not be allowed in public places/public grounds/public parks/markets/religious places, etc in NCT of Delhi,” Delhi Chief Secretary Vijay Dev said in the order.
On Monday, the DDMA had called a meeting which was also attended by Lt Governor Anil Baijal and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The agenda of the meeting was to review the emerging COVID-19 situation in the capital.
“DDMA is satisfied that the NCT of Delhi is again under threat of the spread of COVID-19 epidemic… And whereas, the situation of COVID-19 in Delhi has been reviewed and it has been observed that there has been a persistent rise in COVID-19 cases in NCT of Delhi during the last fortnight,” the order stated.
“Considering this, it has been decided that public celebrations and all gatherings, congregations during upcoming festivals should not be allowed in public places,” the DDMA order added.
An order has also been issued to undertake random testing (RAT/RT-PCR) testing of passengers coming to Delhi from the states where COVID-19 cases are rising. These tests will be done at all airports, railway stations, Inter-State Bus Terminals (ISBT), and other alighting points.
While such passengers would be allowed to leave after giving their samples, “those passengers who are found positive shall be mandatorily quarantined/isolated at their place of stay or government facilities like Covid care centers and hospitals for 10 days as per the prescribed protocol of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,” the DDMA order said.
