Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Wednesday approved the Aam Aadmi Party government’s proposal to allow only 50 guests at weddings, instead of the earlier limit of 200, NDTV reported. The decision came amid a sharp increase in coronavirus cases in the Capital.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had on Tuesday written to Baijal for permission to implement the order. He had also asked the Centre for permission to shut markets which could be potential infection hotspots.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain, meanwhile, said that the government may impose certain local restrictions but won’t enforce a total lockdown, Hindustan Times reported. He had on Monday said that the third wave of the coronavirus in Delhi had passed its peak.
Delhi has witnessed a spurt in coronavirus cases since October 28 when the daily rise breached the 5,000-mark for the first time and it crossed the 8,000-mark on November 11. On Tuesday, Delhi recorded 6,396 cases and 99 deaths. The Capital’s tally rose to 4,95,598 and the toll reached 7,812. The sudden spike in coronavirus cases came amid the festive season and rising pollution levels in the Capital.
The Centre has stepped in again to control the coronavirus situation in the Capital. It has implemented measures like increasing the number of hospital beds and doubling the tests conducted daily to 1-1.2 lakh.
India’s coronavirus tally rose to 89,12,907 on Wednesday as it reported 38,617 new cases in the last day. The toll rose to 1,30,993 as 474 more deaths were registered.
Central teams to visit Delhi private hospitals
The Union home ministry on Wednesday said that 10 multi-disciplinary teams have been set up for visiting private hospitals treating Covid-19 patients in the national Capital to check compliance with various directions issued by it and the Delhi government to contain the spread of the virus.
The decision on the central teams was taken in a meeting on November 15, attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Kejriwal and others.
On Wednesday, the home ministry tweeted details of a slew of other decisions undertaken, including increase of Intensive Care Unit beds and ventilators, ramping up of RT-PCR testing, deployment of mobile testing labs and airlifting doctors and paramedical staff to Delhi.
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