Over 4,300 Covid-19 Violations In last 24 Hours In Delhi

Massive crowd at Delhi's main markets

On Wednesday, over 4,300 violations of Covid-19 restrictions were reported from Delhi, as the massive increase in COVID-19 cases are observed in National Capital.

Data for December 28 shared by the Delhi government showed overall 4,392 violations were recorded.

4,428 were related to not using face mask; north Delhi reported the maximum number of such violations (700), followed by the east (635) and the southwest (502).

83 were for not maintaining social distance and 60 for spitting at public places.

On the same day 69 FIRs registered for violating Covid-19 rules, but no arrests were made.

Visuals emerged last week of massive crowds at the city's Sarojini Nagar market, where thousands - who had apparently never heard of the coronavirus - were packed shoulder-to-shoulder.

Just days earlier similarly scary scenes were seen in the Janpath and Meena Bazaar areas.

Widespread disregard for the guidelines comes as the national capital is in the initial stages of a surge in Covid cases. Yesterday the city reported 923 - an 86 per cent jump in 24 hours.

There are also 263 Omicron Covid cases in the city - the most of any state or UT.

Delhi is on 'yellow alert' over the rise in Omicron cases, with the spike in almost 21 per cent faster than the second wave in March-April.

This means restrictions like night curfew 10 pm to 5 am, closure of educational institutions, cinemas, and gyms, as well as 50 per cent seating capacity of Metro trains and public buses.

Restaurants and bars will close at 10 pm and will operate at half capacity.

Private offices will function at 50 per cent capacity and malls and shops can operate between 10 am to 8 pm on the odd-even basis.

Yesterday the DDMA met and decided not to impose any further restrictions; this will be taken after monitoring occupancy rate of hospital beds.

This morning Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain gave a warning - he said the surge in cases in the city suggested the Omicron variant is now spreading through the community.

Today morning India reported 13,154 COVID-19 cases which is 43 per cent more than yesterday.

Researchers at the UK's Cambridge University have warned of an "explosive" increase of Omicron cases in India within days, and said it is "hard to predict how high daily cases" could go.

At the peak of the second wave India reported over four lakh new cases in the span of 24 hours.