Delhi Govt extends Lockdown by another week; Metro services to be suspended

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has extended the lockdown in the city by another week, making the restrictions stricter. Even the metro services have been suspended this time. The lockdown will be on till 5 am on May 17.

The CM said the extension is meant to ensure that the city does not let its guard down even though the COVID numbers have dropped marginally.

Kejriwal said that "The positivity rate has gone down but still we can't afford leniency. We need to extend to lockdown".

While the positivity rate, which stood at 35% in mid-April, has dropped to 23%, doctors say even this is very high & there is a need to completely break the chain of transmission.

This would be the fourth week of the lockdown imposed as the Covid numbers in Delhi skyrocketed, bringing hospitals to their knees & pushing patients & doctors to look to social media for help amid a huge crisis of oxygen, beds & drugs.

"During the lockdown we utilised the time to enhance our healthcare infrastructure. The main issue in Delhi was oxygen shortage. With Centre's help, the condition is better now," the CM said.

Amid a bitter fight with the Centre over oxygen availability in the High Court of Delhi, the Supreme Court, which had taken up the issue, ordered the formation of a 12-member National Task Force to assess availability & distribution of medical oxygen.

"We expect leading experts in the country shall associate with the Task Force, as members & resource persons," the Court had said in its final order on Friday.

The shortage of oxygen was flagged not just by Delhi but several other states & hearings about the issue had been in six high courts.

Many states have also been hobbled by the shortage of vaccines, which have emerged as the key hope as the country grapples with the second wave of the virus.

Kejriwal said he was hopeful that the Centre will "help us deal with the vaccine shortage".

While vaccines may not be able to entirely keep away the virus -- which has undergone several mutations --they can markedly reduce the severity of the disease & consequently the pressure on hospitals & bring down the mortality rate, doctors have said.

India recorded 4,03,738 fresh Covid cases & 4,092 deaths over the last 24 hours, taking the overall case count to 2.22 crore, showed data from the health ministry.

This is the fifth time in a week that the country has reported over 4 lakh daily infections.

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