Delhi extends lockdown till May 3: All you need to know

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday announced that the ongoing lockdown in the national capital will be extended by another week, till 5 am on May 3, in order to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease.

Earlier, the Delhi government had implemented a six-day lockdown in the national capital starting 19 April 10 pm until 26 April 5 am. "We have decided to extend the lockdown by one week... The havoc of corona(virus) continues and there is no respite. Everyone is in favour of extending the lockdown," Kejriwal said in a press video.

Ahead of the lockdown announcement on 19 April, the state government had implemented a weekend curfew in the national capital from 10 pm on April 16 till 6 am on April 19. It had also ordered closure of malls, gymnasiums and auditoriums till April 30 amid the surge in coronavirus cases.

The rules of the state-wide lockdown will remain the same as before with only essential services and government offices allowed to remain functional. Here is a quick check on the important lockdown guidelines that will continue to be observed till May 3 (as per the lockdown notification issued by the state government previously):

*All private medical personnel such as doctors, nursing staff, paramedical etc as well as employees of pharmacies, diagnostics centers, clinics, medical oxygen suppliers will be allowed.

*Persons going for Covid-19 tests or vaccination will be allowed, on production of valid I card.

*Persons going to/coming from airports, railway stations, ISBTs will be allowed on production of valid tickets.

*Electronic and print media employees will be allowed to travel on production of valid I card.

*Persons/students shall be allowed to appear in examination on production of valid Admit card. Examination staff deployed for exam duties also permitted, upon production of valid I card.

*No restriction on inter-state and intra-state movement or transportation of essential goods.

*Delhi Metro and public buses to remain functional but with only 50% occupancy. Autos and e-autos allowed with only two passengers. Taxis, cabs to also only allow two passengers.

*Shops dealing with food, groceries, fruits and vegetables, daily and milk booths, meat and fish, animal fodder, pharmaceuticals, opticisons, medicines and medical equipments, newspaper distribution to remain open.

*Petrol pumps, CNG stations, LPG stations to remain functional.

*Delivery of food by way of home delivery/take away by restruants/eateries permitted.

*Religious places shall be permitted to open but no visitors allowed.

On Saturday, Delhi reported 24,103 new Covid-19 cases and 357 deaths while the active caseload at the time of filing the report is 93,080. The city's positivity rate is 32.27 per cent while the case fatality rate is 1.38 per cent.