- Monday, December 23, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
NEW DELHI on Tuesday (12) ordered the closure of non-essential offices and restaurants and bars due to the rising Covid-19 cases but at the same time, offered free online yoga classes to those who are in home quarantine.
Authorities in India fear that a devastating wave like that of April-May last year does not hit the country again as case numbers continue to multiply fast. Tens of thousands died during the second wave in India last year and the country’s health system was on the verge of collapse.
This year, the authorities have stopped of a complete lockdown but imposed increased restrictions. Capacities at private offices and eateries in the national capital were restricted to 50 per cent.
However, the government of Delhi said that those in isolation at home can avail free online classes. Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who recently recovered from Covid infection, said it would help patients “boost their immunity and attain mental and spiritual peace”, AFP reported.
Delhi on Saturday (8) and Sunday (9) registered 17 deaths each from the virus, the biggest single-day toll in more than 200 days, according to local media reports.
Nationally, too, India recorded almost 170,000 new cases on Monday (10), almost half the daily number recorded during the surge seen in last April and May. Deaths though have remained much low than what it was then but the numbers are rising.
The Indian Council of Medical Research, the government’s apex scientific body, on Monday changed its mandatory testing guidelines to ease the strain on the testing infrastructure, the AFP report added.
It said healthy and asymptomatic contacts of confirmed Covid patients no longer need mandatory testing.
According to experts, India is now better prepared to handle the latest coronavirus wave, driven by the Omicron variant, than in 2021.
