Covid Surge: Delhi brings back restrictions with yellow alert

Due to the increase in Covid instances, Delhi has announced new restrictions with a "yellow alert". Cinemas and gyms will be closed, malls and businesses will open on an odd-even schedule, and the national capital will have a night curfew between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.

The restrictions come after Delhi's largest single-day surge in infections in six months, with 331 new cases reported yesterday. The positivity rate — the percentage of samples that return positive — was above 0.5 per cent for two days, triggering a yellow alert, according to the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).

Here are the new rules in Delhi under the yellow alert:

• Malls and shops will open on an odd-even basis, between 10 am and 8 pm
• Private offices to function with 50% staff barring essential categories
• Weddings are allowed with up to 20 people, at court or home
• Cinemas, multiplexes and gyms will be closed
• Schools and colleges will stay shut
• Restaurants and bars will be closed at 10 pm, will operate at half capacity
• The Delhi Metro will function with half its capacity
• Online deliveries can continue
• Night curfew in Delhi from 10 pm to 5 am
• Standalone shops or markets in residential colonies will not follow odd-even
• Salons, barbershops and parlours will be allowed
• Spas and wellness clinics will be closed
• Political, religious, festival related gatherings won't be allowed.