On Friday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted that all malls, except grocery stores, pharmacies and vegetable shops, would remain closed in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. On Wednesday, the Health Ministry informed that the total number of people who tested positive for Covid-19 has risen to 10 in Delhi.
In view of the prevailing situation, we are closing down all Malls (except grocery, pharmacy and vegtable shops in them)
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) March 20, 2020
On March 13, the Delhi government had announced that IPL and other sports events will not be allowed in the city-state. In a press conference, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister, Manish Sisodia had announced that all social and sports gatherings including the coveted Indian Premier League (IPL) will not be held in Delhi in the wake of coronavirus outbreak.
On Friday Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray also announced that all non-essential shops and offices in Mumbai, MMR Region, Pune, Pimpri Chinchwad and Nagpur will remain closed till March 31 due to coronavirus scare. He said that the attendance of employees in government offices would be brought down to 25%. Thackeray also urged people to not step out of their houses unnecessarily.
Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray: In Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Nagpur – which have international airports, all shops (other than essentials) and offices to remain closed till 31st March, 2020. #COVID19 (file pic) pic.twitter.com/kJdgt4cm0n
— ANI (@ANI) March 20, 2020
Earlier, one of the organisers of the anti-CAA protests in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri had shown symptoms of the COVID-19 and was undergoing tests after he met his sister, who was earlier tested positive. His sister had returned from the Umrah pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia on 11th March. The 35-year-old protestor said he had been to the anti-CAA protest site in Delhi “a couple of times” after meeting his sister on 13 March.
Protestors at Shaheen Bagh are defying rules to lead mass protests at the protest site despite warnings from the government that the virus could affect them. They also claimed that the protests were a call from Allah and they do not fear the Coronavirus. Instead, they asked to repel all the laws if they cared for the ‘protestors’ at the Shaheen Bagh.
The Indian Council of Medical Research has confirmed that the novel Coronavirus cases in India have climbed to 206 on Friday. ICMR said in its report that a total of 14,376 samples have been tested from 13,486 individuals for testing the presence of SARS-CoV2 as on March 20, 2020. Finally, 206 people are found positive of COVID-19 novel coronavirus among suspected cases and those who were in contacts of known positive cases.
