New Delhi, Jan 4 (Bureau) Delhi will observe a weekend curfew starting this week while government employees will work from home following a surge in Covid-19 cases, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia announced on Tuesday. A daily night curfew is already on in the national capital effective from 10 pm to 5 am. The latest decisions were taken after a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority as the positivity rate stayed above 5 per cent for two straight days, a stage that triggers a Red Alert under the colour-coded Graded Response Action Plan. “DDMA has decided to impose a curfew in Delhi on Saturdays and Sundays to curb the Covid-19 surge. All government officials except those engaged in essential services will work from home. Fifty per cent workforce of private offices will work from home,” Sisodia said.
However, the restriction on public transport has been removed due to overcrowding that arose from the previous order which capped the capacity in buses and metros at 50 per cent. “It was observed that the cap of 50 per cent led to huge overcrowding which defied social distancing. So it has been decided that buses and Metro will function at 100 per cent capacity,” said Sisodia, speaking in the absence of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who was hit by Covid-19 earlier in the day. But no one will be allowed to take public transport without face masks. “There is nothing to worry about. Make masks your shield,” he added. The positivity rate in Delhi was recorded 6.4 per cent on Monday. A total of 4,099 new cases and one death were reported on Monday. Sisodia said there was nothing to panic since most cases reported were mild in nature. “Around 11,000 Covid-19 cases are active in Delhi. Of them, 350 are hospitalised and of this 124 are on oxygen support. Only seven are in critical care,” he said.