Omicron threat: Delhi government imposes 'yellow alert' as COVID-19 cases spike

As the number of cases of Omicron variant of COVID-19 mounted to 165 in Delhi, the Arvind Kejriwal-led government has now declared a yellow Alert with its host of restrictions under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP). 

The COVID positivity rate surpassed 0.5 percent for the second consecutive day in Delhi and according to GRAP, this is the scale of implementing a yellow alert.

Moreover, the positivity rate in the city moved up to 0.68 percent, the highest since the last six months. On June 2, the positivity rate was 0.78 percent.

There are many restrictions on the implementation of yellow alerts in Delhi. Notably, the Delhi government has already imposed a night curfew effective from Monday. The duration is from 11 pm to 5 am. But apart from this, schools, colleges, educational institutions, and coaching institutes can be closed under yellow alert. At the same time, there is a provision under this that shops and malls with non-essential services or goods will open from 10 am to 8 pm under the odd-even rule.

Meanwhile, India has logged 653 cases of the Omicron variant across 21 states and UTs so far, out of which 186 people have recovered or migrated, showed the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.