Delhi: DDMA, DMRC, and AIIMS issue new regulations amid COVID-19 third wave

With health minister Satyendar Jain's recent declaration of the third wave of Covid having arrived in the national capital, various authorities across the city have started modifying the regulations to ramp up the precautionary measures. Authorities including DDMA, DMRC, and AIIMS Delhi have issued orders in the purview of the increasing cases.

New Delhi: With health minister Satyendar Jain's recent declaration of the third wave of Covid having arrived in the national capital, various authorities across the city have started modifying the regulations to ramp up the precautionary measures.

Shops to be functional with odd-even rule

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Friday issued an order to all the District Magistrates and Municipal Corporations to allow the opening of shops and markets in the national capital while following the odd-even rule.

Amid the continuous surge in cases in New Delhi, the order stated that shops in the market premises and malls containing non-essential goods can remain functional between 10 am and 8 pm on alternate days, based on the shop number, i.e. all the shops with an even number will remain open on one day, while the ones with an odd number will be functional on the other day. Apart from this, only one authorized weekly market will be allowed per day in the area, with a maximum allowance of 50 per cent of vendors.

The DDMA has further declared a meeting to review the situation on January 10, Monday.

Metro Guidelines

Meanwhile, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has appealed to the passengers to travel by metro only when absolutely necessary as a precautionary measure against the rapidly rising cases. As informed by the DMRC Chief Spokesperson Anuj Dayal, the DDMA has allowed 100 per cent seating in metro trains under its new guidelines, but a ban has been imposed on travelling standing in the metro.

However, the notice doesn't specify how these guidelines should be followed when there is no way for the passengers to know the number of people already present inside the metro while entering inside. Each metro coach has a current capacity of only 50 passengers.

Dayal further informed that the DDMA will impose the curfew on the coming Saturday and Sunday, while the state government has announced to impose a curfew every weekend.

The frequency of metro services will also be altered during the curfew, with a metro running every 15 minutes between Hooda City Center to Samaypur Badli on the Yellow Line of Metro. Similarly, the metro running between from Dwarka Sector 21 to Noida Electronic City and Vaishali on the Blue Line with the frequency of every 15 minutes.

Apart from these two lines, metro service will be available every 20 minutes during the weekend curfew on all other lines, whereas the service will continue to run normally from Monday to Friday. These changes have been incorporated by DMRC keeping in mind the guidelines by the DDMA and maybe be remodified after the weekend curfew is lifted.

Covid facility update in AIIMS Delhi

At the same time, the AIIMS Delhi converted the Trauma Centre into a dedicated Covid facility on Friday. The authorities here suspended the routine inpatient non-emergency admissions and all routine procedures or non-essential surgeries with immediate effect in order to make space for the covid facility.
The OPD services in AIIMS Hospital and all Centres will hereby continue to function with restricted registrations limited to only patients with prior appointments, as informed in the AIIMS circular released on Friday.
A separate circular stated that the Trauma emergency department will start functioning from the ground floor of the old Rajkumari Amrit Kaur (RAK) building, main AIIMS from Friday while the OPD of JPNATC will shift to the fifth floor of the old RAK building from Saturday.

Delhi on Friday recorded 17,335 fresh Covid cases - the highest single-day spike since May 8, and nine deaths, while the positivity rate mounted to 17.73 per cent, according to data shared by the city health department.

This is a significant rise from Thursday when the city recorded 15,097 new cases at a positivity rate of 15.34 per cent.

With the night and weekend curfews already imposed in the national capital, the migrant workers and daily wagers fear another round of lockdown could push them into a severe financial crisis.