Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Wednesday said night curfew was imposed in the national Capital following reports that parties and social gatherings were being organised in various parts of the city at a time when Covid-19 cases are surging.
"The night curfew has been imposed between 10 pm in the night to 5 am in the morning. There were reports about parties, which cause unnecessary gatherings and people are in close contact there. Hence the night curfew is aimed to avoid this situation," he said.
Jain also feared that if the positivity rate escalated and safety norms were not followed by people, the new cases could breach the last single-day spike record registered in November last year.
The Health Minister said that Delhi saw 5100 positive cases and 103453 tests were conducted. The positivity rate was at 4.93per cent. Delhi's positivity rate is looming at around five per cent.
In the past few three weeks, Delhi has seen a surge in the number of positive cases. "The Delhi Government is escalating the number of beds in the hospitals. In the last three days, more than 2000 beds have been added and in the coming 2-3 days, an additional 2000-2500 will be increased," he said.
Jain said that covid has lasted for more than a year and the most effective way to curb the infection is to wear a mask and follow the protocol of sanitisation and social distancing.
"The night curfew in Delhi from 10 pm to 5 am has been done to avoid unnecessary crowds that could cause the virus to spread. The curfew was done temporarily and the impact will be analysed," he said.
Jain said that as per the new trend, the virus was fast spreading among the people aged between 20-45 years, who may not get affected much but can pose a threat to the elderly at homes. Therefore, the vaccination should now be made available to all ages.
Talking about the effectiveness of the night curfew, Jain added, "We cannot impose night curfew in certain parts, it has to be applied to all of Delhi. However it has been done for the time being. We will analyse the impact. It is not a harsh decision, it will start from 10 PM in the night and people generally finish their work by then."
Responding to the queries surrounding loss of employment due to the night curfew, Jain said, "Taxis are allowed and if someone is coming from outside and have valid tickets they can travel. For restaurants and hotels, the timing is anyway 11 PM."
Talking about functioning of OPDs in Delhi Governments hospitals as it is closed in AIIMS, Jain added, "We have directed all Delhi Governments hospitals to increase the Covid beds and they would take further decisions accordingly."
