The Aam Aadmi Party government on Thursday told the Delhi High Court that it was “actively considering” imposing a night curfew or weekend restrictions to contain the spread of the coronavirus in the national Capital, reported the Hindustan Times.
The government’s response came after the court asked it about the measures taken to control the surge of coronavirus cases and if it was planning curbs similar to other states, including night curfew. A day earlier, the Centre had issued fresh guidelines allowing states to impose night curfews and advised them to promote “Covid-appropriate” behaviour, among other guidelines.
Delhi has been reporting a high number of cases everyday with the health ministry data from the morning showing 5,246 fresh infections and 99 deaths reported in the last 24 hours. The Capital has so far has registered 5,45,787 Covid-19 cases, including 38,287 active cases and 8,720 fatalities.
During Thursday’s hearing, the High Court also asked how the government was spreading awareness about “Covid-appropriate” behaviour. The government’s counsel told the High Court that it was holding group meetings with the Resident Welfare Associations. The court was hearing a plea seeking to increase Covid-19 testing facilities in Delhi.
The court, however, said that videos showed thousands of people were turning up for these meetings, which can make them Covid-19 spreaders. “Also, you need to tell us how many market associations and RWAs you’ve reached out to and what’s the plan of engaging them in your Covid management strategy,” a bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad said.
It further asked how was the government was sure that people were flouting the order related to weddings. “How do you get to know about these violations?” it asked. “What’s your protocol? The wedding season is upon us, you need to have a protocol to conduct random checks and other acts to ensure that there’s checking mechanism in place.”
The limit on wedding guests was the first order passed by the Delhi government, curbing the number from 200 to 50, as part of its measures to control the spread of the infection. The Delhi government also increased the fine for not wearing masks in the Capital to Rs 2,000 from Rs 500 to tackle the pandemic.
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