Covid 19: DDMA meeting on rising coronavirus cases in Delhi today; fresh cases over 2000

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) will meet on Wednesday, April 20, 2022, amid a rise in Covid cases in the National Capital and across the country to discuss the prevailing situation. India registered over 2000 covid cases in the last 24 hours, as per the official bulletin.

The authority may take a call on reimposing the fine for not wearing face masks in public places, a PTI report said quoting official sources. 

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The meeting, which will be chaired by the Delhi Lt Governor at 12.30 pm, is also expected to hold discussions on the hybrid mode of education-- online and offline classes -- for schools, they said. 

According to the health bulletin of the Delhi government on Tuesday, 632 fresh cases were reported in the last 24 hours. The number of hospitalisations however is very low and deaths due to Covid are negligible. 

The Delhi government had lifted the fine of Rs 500 on not wearing face masks at public places through an order on April 2. However, with a rise in number of cases, experts have suggested that wearing of face masks be strictly enforced to prevent spread of the virus. 

"Imposition of fine for strict enforcement of face mask use is highly likely as neighbouring towns including Noida, Ghaziabad and Gurgaon have done so in view of rising cases," said a senior government officer. 

Schools across Delhi-NCR have sprung into action following a spike in Covid cases and are taking various measures, including frequent sanitisation, to restrict the spread of the virus to a minimum and thus, avoid closure of campuses, according to the PTI report. 

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain had said on Monday that the Covid situation was not alarming in Delhi although cases were rising. The number of hospitalisations were low and the government was keeping watch on the situation, he had said.  

As many as 186.90 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far under Nationwide Vaccination Drive. The active caseload currently stands at 12,340, which is 0.03 per cent, while the recovery rate currently is at 98.76 per cent, as per the government data.  

The country has witnessed 1,547 recoveries in the last 24 hours increasing total recoveries to 4,25,13,248 and around 2,067 new cases were recorded in a day, with daily and weekly positivity rate at 0.49 and 0.38 per cent, respectively, the government data also noted.