Delhi Disaster Management Body Forms For Essential Services

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority has formed a six-member empowered group to ensure a smooth supply of essential commodities and services in the national capital during the ongoing lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

In order, the DDMA said the group will also engage with the private sector and industry associations for critical supply arrangements related to Covid equipment and logistics that districts or other departments require in the field.

The six-member group will be led by Delhi Trade and Tax Commissioner Ankur Garg.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced on Sunday the extension of the ongoing lockdown in Delhi for another week, saying that the severity of COVID-19 has not diminished and that the positivity rate has reached 36 percent in recent days.

The lockdown imposed on the night of April 19 will now continue until 5 a.m. on May 3, he said. Before the extension, it was scheduled to end at 5 a.m. on April 26.

In an order, State Nodal Officer (COVID19) Satya Gopal said the empowered group will address the issues of export-oriented units due to restrictions imposed during curfew.

Gopal, who is also an additional chief secretary (proxy), said in the order that he will also address the issues, if any, facing the district administration regarding the availability of essential goods and services related to COVID-19 (which other than medicines and hospital supplies).

“The six-member group will also identify problem areas and provide effective solutions for them, outline policies, formulate plans, strategies and take all necessary steps for the effective and time-bound implementation of these plans/strategies/decisions,” he also stated.

On Sunday, Delhi recorded 350 COVID-19 deaths and 22,933 cases with a positivity rate of 30.21 percent.

This was the fourth day in a row that Delhi recorded more than 300 deaths due to the coronavirus.

It had reported 357 deaths, the highest so far since the pandemic began a year ago on Saturday, 348 on Friday, and 306 on Thursday, according to government data.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NewsGater staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)