Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday, January 4, said that he has tested positive for the coronavirus and isolated himself at home. The Chief Minister urged people who came in contact with him in the last few days to quarantine themselves and get tested. "I have tested positive for Covid. Mild symptoms. Have isolated myself at home. Those who came in touch wid (with) me in last few days, kindly isolate urself (yourself) and get urself tested (sic)," Kejriwal tweeted.
This comes as Delhi is witnessing a COVID-19 resurgence triggered by the new highly-transmissible Omicron variant. The national capital on Monday, January 3, reported 4,099 fresh COVID-19 cases, the highest single-day rise after May 18, 2021 when the tally was 4,482, and one death.
The new cases have pushed up the infection tally to 14.58 lakh in Delhi, while the death toll has now reached 25,110. The COVID-19 infection rate has climbed to 6.46%, the highest in the last seven months. According to the Delhi Health Department, the city had recorded a 6.89% positivity rate on May 18. The capital has, so far, detected 351 Omicron cases, of which 57 have been discharged from the hospital.
Meanwhile, amid rising coronavirus cases in the national capital, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) will discuss more restrictions, including sounding of a ‘red alert' that entails total curfew and closure of non-essential shops, in its meeting scheduled on Tuesday, an official notice said on Monday.
The 'red alert' (Level 4) is the topmost level of restrictions including closure of all non essential shops, metro trains, government offices except those dealing with essential services, under four-stage Graded Response Action Plan approved by the DDMA. The agenda of the meeting included review of COVID-19 situation and preparation in the wake of rising Omicron cases in Delhi, discussion on implementation of GRAP (Level 4 Red), and review of the vaccination programme, said the notice.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Monday said COVID-19 cases were rising fast but the situation was under control because people were not getting seriously ill to require hospitalisation. The Delhi government had imposed yellow alert in the city on December 28, following which it had closed down cinemas and gyms and shops of non-essential items are opening on an odd-even basis, while seating capacity in metro trains and city buses has been reduced to 50%.
With PTI and IANS inputs