NewsGate Press Network

It was a bad news for Delhi on Sunday morning.

A sure cause for concern was when Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced “no relaxation for at least one week from 20 April onwards”.

Strict lockdown enforcement to continue all over Delhi.

While announcing his decision Arvind Kejriwal said that rate of positive cases in the Capital are as high as 25 per cent of the total samples collected on daily basis.

Kejriwal said. “Yesterday (i.e. on 18 April 2020), of 736 tests that were conducted in the city, about 25 per cent tested positive. (the point of worry is) All 186 positive cases had not shown any symptoms. This is dangerous,” he added asking everyone to stay inside.

According to the latest figures released by the Ministry of Health, nearly 12 per cent of India’s total CoronaVirus cases have been reported from the National Capital.

Given this background “the lockdown cannot be relaxed” in the city as of now, Kejriwal said adding that “the situation would be reviewed again after a week.

“According to the Central Government’s directions, lockdown can be relaxed in those areas that are not affected by the CoronaVirus pandemic from April 20, which is tomorrow. However, the restrictions can’t be relaxed in containment zones,” Kejriwal announced in a video message on Sunday.

“Delhi has 11 districts… all of them are hotspots. The city has seen a spike in the number of CoronaVirus cases in the last few days as we increased testing,” he added.

With 77 containment zones, the national capital has recorded 1,893 COVID-19 cases so far, including 42 deaths.

“I am concerned about children not going to schools, people not being able to earn their livelihoods. But if we relax the lockdown and fall short of hospital beds, ventilators… what will we do then?”.

“For now, we have decided not to relax the lockdown,” said Kejriwal while giving examples of severe Pandemic situation prevailing in European nations such as Italy and Spain that had experienced shortage of hospital beds and ventilators in their fight against COVID19.