Delhi, India’s capital city, has announced a return to severe lockdown measures for at least a week after a record spike in cases overwhelmed the city’s healthcare system. Government offices and essential services will remain open during the lockdown, which starts today. The city previously imposed a curfew, which was in effect over the weekend. On Sunday, the city reported a massive number of new cases, 24,462 new infections.
India has been combatting the deadly second wave of Covid-19 infections since the start of April. India has also requested that the city’s migrant workers do not leave the city and return to their villages, which could cause further spread to more remote areas of the country. Officials stated that re-entering the complete lockdown was a difficult decision, however, the extreme rise in cases, deaths, and hospitalizations left the government with no choice but to take action. The lockdown is set to last a week from today but could be extended as the situation develops.