India’s capital New Delhi will start relaxing its strict coronavirus lockdown next week if its new cases continue to drop.
The South Asian country on Sunday reported 240,842 new infections nationwide over 24 hours – the lowest daily number in more than a month – and 3,741 deaths.
For weeks, India has battled a devastating second wave of COVID-19 that has crippled its health system and led to shortages of oxygen supplies.
New Delhi, one of the worst-hit cities, went into lockdown on April 20, but new cases have declined in recent weeks and the test positivity rate has fallen under 2.5 percent, compared with 36 percent last month, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said.
A look at the biggest Covid-19 developments of the day. 5 hours ago A medical worker displays a vial of the Covaxin vaccine against the Covid-19 at a vaccination centre. | Indranil Mukherjee/AFP
Here are the top updates on Sunday:
Aam Aadmi Party MLA Atishi on Sunday said there were no more doses of Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin left with the Delhi government after Monday’s inoculations. She said the administration in Delhi was not informed about the supply of the next installment from the central government.
India reported 2,40,842 new coronavirus cases, taking the infection tally to 26,530,132 since the pandemic first broke out in January 2020. The toll climbed by 3,741 to 2,99,266. There are 28,05,399 active cases and 2,34,25,467 patients have recovered from the infection so far.
The Uttar Pradesh government had also extended partial corona curfew till 7 AM May 31 on Saturday.
Among the southern states, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Telangana have extended their lockdown this month, while Andhra Pradesh will continue to have curfew.
The Puducherry government on Sunday announced the extension of the ongoing lockdown till May 31 as COVID-19 cases continue to soar in the union territory.
The two-week long lockdown clamped on May 10 is to come to an end on May 24 midnight.
In the Northeast, the Mizoram government has extended total lockdown in Aizawl and other district headquarters till May 31.
Nagaland, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh have extended the restrictions till month-end.
Read more about Covid cases in Delhi dips below 2,000, positivity rate down to 2.42% on Business Standard. Delhi recorded 1,649 new Covid-19 cases, the lowest since March 30, and 189 fatalities on Sunday, while the positivity rate slipped to 2.42 per cent
The number of active cases in Delhi decreased to 27,610 on Sunday. (File)
New Delhi:
Delhi recorded 1,649 new COVID-19 cases, the lowest since March 30, and 189 fatalities on Sunday, while the positivity rate slipped to 2.42 per cent, even as Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal extended the lockdown in the capital by another week.
This is the second day on the trot that the number of deaths remained less than 200.
This is also the lowest daily spike in cases recorded since March 30 (992) and the first time that the count has gone below the 2,000-mark since April 1, when 2,790 people tested positive for the infection.
Delhi had recorded 2,260 cases on Saturday, 3,009 on Friday, 3,231 on Thursday and 3,846 on Wednesday.