New Delhi. Long queues of people were seen outside various metro stations here on Wednesday morning in view of the new restrictions implemented in view of the increasing cases of COVID-19 in Delhi. In view of the new restrictions imposed by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) due to rising infection cases, Delhi Metro train services will operate with 50 per cent seat capacity and standing travel will not be allowed.
Delhi Metro operates at 50% seating capacity, no standing passengers allowed, in view of fresh restrictions imposed due to rising Covid cases
Govt’s decision to reduce seating capacity is good; People should follow COVID appropriate behaviour, says a commuter. pic.twitter.com/tPIXxvePSp
– ANI (@ANI) December 29, 2021
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Tuesday said that in view of the latest guidelines issued by the Delhi government to deal with COVID-19 in Delhi, travel inside the metro will be allowed under certain restrictions. The new restrictions came into force with immediate effect soon after the new norms were announced by the DDMA and there were long queues in the morning hours. In the morning, most of the people use the metro to go to the office.
People took more time at Laxmi Nagar, Akshardham, other stations. Many people also complained about this on Facebook and Twitter. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had announced a ‘yellow’ alert in Delhi on Tuesday as the cases of COVID-19 increased in the city. The ‘yellow’ alert includes measures such as imposing night curfew, closure of schools and colleges, opening of non-essential goods shops on an odd-even basis and halving the seating capacity of passengers in metro trains and public transport buses.
“In view of this, the entry into the metro station will be controlled by limiting the number of gates open for entry at the station to ensure compliance with the guidelines,” officials had said on Tuesday. Out of 712 gates, 444 gates will remain open for now.” According to the Union Health Ministry, so far 781 cases of corona virus ‘Omicron’ have been reported in India, out of which 241 people have become infection free or have migrated to other places. These cases have been reported in 21 states and union territories.
Delhi has reported the highest number of 238 cases followed by Maharashtra with 167, Gujarat 73, Kerala 65 and Telangana 62. On Tuesday, 496 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the national capital, which is the highest number of cases reported since June 4. At the same time, one person died due to infection. The infection rate in Delhi is 0.89 percent.