The Delhi government on Thursday informed the High Court that no night curfew would be imposed in the national Capital, or parts of it, for now to contain the coronavirus spread, PTI reported. The court was hearing a plea filed by Advocate Rakesh Malhotra on increasing coronavirus test centres and getting speedy results.

The submission was made before a bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad. On November 26, the Delhi government had said that it was “actively considering” a night curfew or weekend restrictions.

However, in a status report filed before the court on Thursday, the Arvind Kejriwal government said that it has issued an order directing that status quo be maintained with regard to permitted and restricted activities in the city till December 31. “No new activity has been permitted/allowed till December 31,” the report said, according to PTI.

The Aam Aadmi Party government, represented by advocate Sandeep Sethi and Additional Standing Counsel Satyakam, also submitted that “necessary measures” are being taken to contain the pandemic. “The Delhi government has been taking all necessary measures, as required and demanded, by the ever-changing circumstances and [remains] committed to making every effort to arrest the spread of Covid-19 in the national capital,” the report said, according to NDTV.

The Delhi High Court directed the government to “focus on testing and tracing” to deal with the spread of infections. The court said the testing labs can message the results to people on their mobile numbers, which are taken at time of sample collection, and it can be put up on the websites later.

Meanwhile, India’s coronavirus cases rose by 35,551 on Wednesday, making it the 26th straight day when daily infections stayed below the 50,000 mark. The country now has total 95,34,964 cases, while as many as 89,73,373 people have recovered. The toll rose by 526 to 1,38,648.


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