Delhi's Chandni Chowk market to remain shut till April 25 amid spike in coronavirus cases

Delhi's Chandni Chowk market will remain shut till April 25 in view of the exponential rise in COVID-19 cases, the traders association announced on Sunday.

The Delhi Kirana Committee of Khari Baoli Market and the Chemical Merchant Association of Tilak Bazaar also announced closure of markets till April 21.

''Today Chandni Chowk Sarv Vyapar Mandal in an emergency meeting with its members has decided to request its members to keep their establishment closed till April 25 in light of very serious condition of the virus spreading at a very large volumes. We will take a decision after assessing the condition on next Sunday,'' Chandni Chowk traders body president Sanjay Bhargava said in a statement.

''The most alarming aspect is the galloping positivity rate and shortages of hospital beds, oxygen, ventilators and medicines and other medical facilities in use of the epidemic,'' he added.

Several market associations had on Friday called for strict enforcement of COVID-19 protocols and expressed that lockdown is not a solution.

Keeping in view of the current scenario of COVID-19, a meeting was held amongst all major retail markets and suggested that that there should be more strict enforcement of COVID-19 protocols during the day as well rather than just depending on measures like night curfew/weekend curfew and lockdown.

In a joint statement issued by over 12 market associations, they had expressed a common view that implementing lockdown is definitely not a solution to take charge of the current pandemic.

The weekend curfew, aimed at breaking the chain of spiralling coronavirus infections, was clamped at 10 pm on Friday and will continue till 5 am on Monday.

Delhi on Sunday reported 25,462 COVID-19 cases, the highest single-day spike in the national capital till date, according to data shared by the Health Department.

The city also reported 161 deaths, while the positivity rate shot up to 29.74 per cent, also the highest so far.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)