The Delhi government on Tuesday issued an order restricting public gatherings during Holi and other upcoming festivals in city as the number of new COVID-19 cases rose to 1,101 over 24 hours, the highest in more than three months.
“All authorities concer-ned will ensure that public celebrations and gatherings, congregations during upcoming festivals like Holi, Shab-e-Barat, Navaratri etc. shall not be allowed in public places/public grounds/parks/markets/religious places etc. in NCT of Delhi,” an order issued by Chief Secretary Vijay Dev read.
The order said that if the gatherings happen, it may pose a “considerable threat” of spread of the virus.
‘Super spreader areas’
Also, there are many “super spreader areas” in the city such as weekly markets, metro services, religious places and others, the government said in another order and directed all DMs to “greatly intensify their enforcement efforts”.
“The past fortnight has seen a persistent increase in the COVID-19 cases in Delhi and positivity is also on the rise. It has been observed that COVID-appropriate behaviour is not being followed amongst the general public,” the order further said.
Random testing
The government has also decided to conduct random testing of people coming from other States.
“All District Disaster Management Authorities shall conduct random testing (RAT/RT-PCR) of passengers coming from the States where COVID-19 cases are surging/rapidly increasing, at all airports, railway stations, inter-State bus terminals (ISBT) and other alighting points (for private buses) in NCT of Delhi. It shall be ensured that samples are taken randomly at the alighting points for conduct of tests,” said another order.
Passengers who are found COVID-19-positive, shall be mandatorily quarantined at their place of stay or a government facility for 10 days.
