STATE TIMES NEWS
NEW DELHI: The Delhi Disaster Management Authority is expected to meet on Friday for a discussion to lift the remaining Covid restrictions here, including night curfew, half seating capacity in bars and restaurants, and closure of non- essential shops by 8 pm, official sources said.
Several restrictions like weekend curfew, half seating capacity in metro trains and buses, closure of multiplexes and cinemas, among others, were lifted by the authority in the recent past, with dissipation of the Omicron-fuelled third Covid wave.
However, restrictions like only one weekly market per- mitted in a municipal zone, no standing passengers in buses and metro trains, 50 per cent cap on seating capacity in restaurants, bars and cinemas, and no activity except weddings in banquet halls, are yet to be relaxed.
“The fresh cases of Covid as the Covid situation in the city. The Chamber of Trade and Industry (CTI), an association of traders in Delhi, has written a letter to DDMA Chairman and Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal demanding that a meeting of the DDMA should be convened at the earliest.
“If Covid cases and the infection rate are decreasing in the capital, then the rest of the restrictions should be completely removed,” the organisation has said.
“There has been a positivity rate of less than one per cent in Delhi. On Monday, only 360 new cases of the coronavirus came. Beds are lying vacant in hospitals. The wave of the coronavirus in Delhi is nearing its end,” said CTI chairman Brijesh Goyal and president Subhash Khandelwal.
Currently, there is night curfew from 11 pm to 5 am that causes a lot of problems. Shops in Delhi markets are allowed to open till 8 pm. Its time should also increase, they said. Goyal said that people associated with the event and exhibition industry are also worried. They are unable to work, he said.
Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta has also written to Baijal requesting him to allow visitors in temples and other religious places. Currently religious places are permitted to open without visitors.
COVID: 137 new cases in J&K
Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir recorded 137 fresh Covid cases on Tuesday that pushed the infection tally to 4,52,547, officials said.
No Covid-related death was reported in the past 24 hours, they said.
Of the new cases, 100 were from the Jammu division and 37 from the Kashmir division, officials said.
Jamnu district recorded the highest 30 cases followed by 25 in Doda district, they said, adding that there are 1,448 active cases in the Union Territory.
The overall recoveries have reached 4,46,352, officials said, adding the death toll stands at 4,747.
There were 51 confirmed cases of Mucormycosis (black fun- gus) in the Union Territory. No fresh case was reported since last evening, officials added.
Meanwhile, Ladakh has reported 32 fresh Covid cases that pushed the infection tally to 27,867, officials said.
The number of active cases stands at 321 — 276 cases in Leh and 45 cases in Kargil district, they said. The Union Territory has recorded 228 Covid-related deaths — 168 in Leh and 60 in Kargil, they said, adding that no death was reported on Monday.
As many as 52 patients — 37 in Leh and 15 in Kargil — were cured and discharged from hospitals, taking the overall recoveries to 27,318, they said.
Of the new cases, 24 were from Leh and eight from Kargil district, they said, adding that 1,218 sample reports were found negative in Ladakh.