‘Coronavirus continues to wreak havoc’: Delhi lockdown extended till May 3

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday extended the lockdown in the national Capital till 5 am on May 3. The lockdown was earlier scheduled to end on Monday.

“The coronavirus still continues to wreak havoc in the city,” he said in a video posted on Twitter. “The public opinion is that lockdown should increase.”

The chief minister said that the daily positivity rate had climbed to 36%-37% in Delhi. “In the last two-three days, it [daily positivity rate] has dropped,” he said. “It is below 30% today [Sunday].” The daily positivity rate was recorded at 32.27% on Saturday, the day the national Capital registered its highest toll at 357 fatalities.

The rules of the lockdown will remain the same, according to the Hindustan Times. Only essential services will be allowed to function.

In his address, Kejriwal also pointed to the scarcity of oxygen in the national Capital. “Delhi now needs 700 tonnes and what’s reaching us is 330 to 335 metric tonnes only.”

The chief minister said that while the Delhi government failed to deliver oxygen at some places, it succeeded in some facilities.

Kejriwal said that it was now necessary to manage oxygen supplies. For this, he said, the government has started a portal that will record the status of supplies from manufacturers to hospitals every two hours. Manufacturers, suppliers and hospitals would need to keep the government informed regularly, he added.

The chief minister said that the Delhi government and the Centre were working to resolve problems related to the supply of oxygen. “I understand that this situation is likely to improve in the next few days,” he added.

He said that the government was trying to get oxygen from wherever possible. Kejriwal said that he wrote to all chief ministers of the states, requesting supply, on Saturday. “We are in talks with a few states,” he said. “I will inform when there is something concrete.”

Delhi on Saturday registered 24,103 new coronavirus cases, taking the infection tally to 10,04,782, since the pandemic broke out in January 2020. The active cases mark was also inching closer to the 1-lakh mark with 93,080 infections. As many as 22,695 people recovered on Saturday, taking the tally to 8,97,804.