COVID-19: No night curfew in Delhi for now, AAP govt tells HC

The AAP government informed the Delhi High Court on Thursday that no night curfew would be imposed in the national capital or parts of it, for now, to contain the spread of coronavirus.

The submission was made before a bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad in response to the court’s query on November 26 as to whether night curfew would be imposed in Delhi to contain spread of COVID-19 infection, as has been done in some other states.

In a status report filed in court, the Delhi government has said that on November 28 it issued an order directing that status quo be maintained with regard to permitted and restricted activities in the city till December 31.

“Therefore, no new activity has been permitted/ allowed till December 31,” said the report, filed through additional standing counsel Satyakam.

It also said that the Delhi government has issued another order on November 28 restricting 50 per cent attendance of employees (below grade-1) of non-essential services, government departments, corporations, public sector undertakings and local bodies.

“The private establishments have also been advised to stagger the office timing and also stagger the presence of staff to reduce the number of employees attending office at the same time,” it further said.

The court was hearing a PIL by advocate Rakesh Malhotra seeking increase in the COVID-19 testing numbers in the national capital and getting speedy results.