- By Aalok Sensharma
- Sun, 16 May 2021 01:13 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
New Delhi | Jagran News Desk: Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday announced that his government has decided to extend the coronavirus-induced lockdown, which was scheduled to end at 5 am on Monday, in the national capital despite a steady decline in COVID-19 cases.
"Delhi has been recovering at a good speed. The number of cases are on steady decline. But I do not want to lose the gains that we have achieved in the last few days. That is why we are extending the lockdown till 5 am on next Monday instead of ending it tomorrow," Kejriwal was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
The Kejriwal government had imposed a lockdown last month with the unprecedented hike in COVID-19 cases in Delhi. It was extended on May 1 and 9 respectively.
Notably, several medical experts and doctors, including Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) chief Dr Balram Bhargava, had warned against lifting the lockdown in Delhi, saying it would lead to a massive spike in cases. Looking at multiple warnings, Kejriwal had hinted multiple times that the lockdown in the national capital would be extended again.
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"If we do not take precautions, then the cases will increase again. There is no guarantee that they will remain low," Kejriwal had said in one of his press conference, as reported by news agency IANS.
Meanwhile, Delhi's COVID-19 situation has improved vastly over the last few days with the national capital's positivity rate dropping to 11.32 per cent. As per the state health department, Delhi reported just 6,430 new COVID-19 cases and 337 fatalities on Saturday.
This was the second time in a month when Delhi recorded less than 10,000 cases in a day. However, this could also be attributed to the fact that only 56,811 tests -- including 46,774 RT-PCR tests and 10,037 rapid antigen tests -- were conducted in the national capital on Friday.
According to the state health department, Delhi currently has 66,295 active COVID-19 cases while while more than 12 lakh patients have recovered from the infection. On the other hand, the death toll has jumped to 21,244. Delhi, meanwhile, now has 57,179 containment zones while the number of people under home isolation is 42,484.