Delhi’s Covid case positivity rate rose to 0.43 per cent on Saturday as the city reported 249 fresh cases, the highest single-day increase since June 13. The positivity rate was also the highest since June 9 when it stood at 0.46 per cent.
Under the four-stage Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), if the positivity rate remains stable at 0.5 per cent for two consecutive days, a ‘yellow’ alert will be triggered, leading to several restrictions.
If this warning is issued, most activities will come to a halt just a few months after the phased re-emergence from the April lockdown.
The GRAP was approved by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority in July in anticipation of the third wave of COVID-19. It aims to bring a clear picture of the imposition and removal of restrictions based on the status of COVID.
Curfew will be in place from 10 pm to 5 am during Yellow, Amber and Orange alerts. If a ‘red’ alert is issued, there will be a “total curfew”.
A ‘Yellow’ (Level-1) alert will be sounded when the positivity rate crosses 0.5 per cent or the new cases rise to 1,500 or the oxygenated bed occupancy reaches 500. The response will include allowing construction, construction activities and shops of essential commodities to open. ,
However, shops and establishments and malls of non-essential goods and services will be allowed to open between 10 am and 8 pm on the basis of odd-even formula. Only one weekly market per zone will be allowed to open with 50 per cent vendors when the ‘Yellow’ alert is sounded.
Restaurants with 50 per cent capacity will be allowed from 8 am to 10 pm, while bars can also operate with the same capacity, but from 12 pm to 10 pm. Marriages and funerals will be allowed in the presence of 20 people while all other types of gatherings will be banned.
Delhi Metro will run at 50 per cent seating capacity while auto-rickshaws and cabs can accommodate two passengers. As per GRAP, the buses will ply with only 50 per cent exempted class passengers.
Cinema halls, banquet halls, spas, gyms, outdoor yoga activities, amusement parks, stadiums, swimming pools, schools and colleges will not be allowed to issue ‘yellow’ alerts.
Religious places will remain open but without visitors. Parks and gardens can open.
Private offices can operate with up to 50 per cent staff. In Delhi government offices, except for certain categories of officers, only half of the employees will be allowed.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has assured the people that his government is ready to face the third wave.
A government official said that if the positivity rate stabilizes at 0.5 per cent for two days, the DDMA will issue an order announcing the imposition of GRAP.
The response includes restricting economic activity commensurate with the level of alert associated with the severity of the pandemic. During all the four levels of alert, shops and establishments of essential goods and services will be allowed to open.
‘Yellow’ is followed by ‘Amber’ alert. This will be applicable when the positivity rate exceeds one per cent or the new case count reaches 3,500 or the oxygenated bed occupancy reaches 700.
The response is mostly the same as ‘Yellow’ except that malls and shops of non-essential goods and services will be allowed to open from 10 am to 6 pm.
In Amber Alert, Delhi Metro will run at 33 per cent of its seating capacity, while dining facilities will not be allowed in restaurants but takeaway service will continue.
An ‘Orange’ alert will be triggered if the positivity crosses two per cent or the new cases reach 9,000 or 1,000 on oxygenated beds.
Construction activities with onsite laborers will be allowed. Industrial activities will remain prohibited except for activities related to essential commodities and defense production. Malls and weekly markets will remain closed. Standalone non-essential shops will open from 10 am to 6 pm.
If the positivity rate exceeds five per cent or new cases rise to 16,000 or oxygenated bed occupancy reaches 3,000, a ‘red’ alert will be issued.
Most economic activities will not be allowed under ‘red’ alert. Construction activities with onsite laborers and industrial manufacturing of essential goods, national security and defense related productions will be permitted. Malls and weekly markets will remain closed and standalone non-essential shops will open.
The GRAP also recommends guidelines for people entering the city, including travelers from states with more than five percent positivity rates and those who have reported mutant strains.
The guidelines of the Central Government will be followed for international passengers.
The restrictions will come into effect when a ‘red alert’ is implemented and people will reach by air from states where the positivity rate is more than five per cent.
The second condition will include people coming by air, train, bus, car, truck from those states where the positivity rate is more than 10 percent. The third condition of the restrictions is for people from other states where a new mutant of the virus has been detected.
People arriving in Delhi when GRAP is in force should have a complete vaccination certificate or a negative RT-PCR report not older than 72 hours. Those failing to do so will have to remain in 14-day institutional or paid quarantine. PTI VIT NSD
This story has been published without modification in text from a wire agency feed.
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