Delhi government sounds yellow alert as Covid positivity crosses 0.5%

A detailed order on restrictions to be implemented under ‘Yellow Alert’ will be released soon, said chief minister Arvind Kejriwal

Moneycontrol News

December 28, 2021 / 15:08 IST

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal u(File image)

The Delhi government enforced level one of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), classified as a yellow alert, as Covid positivity has been recorded above 0.5 percent for the past few days in the national capital, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on December 28.

While a detailed order on restrictions was awaited, NDTV reported that schools, colleges, gyms and cinema halls will remain shut, restaurants and bars will be allowed to operate at 50 percent capacity till 10 pm, malls and non-essential shops will be allowed to remain open on odd-even date basis, from 10 am to 8 pm.

The night curfew, which was already announced from December 27 onwards, will continue to remain in effect. The timing of curfew, currently imposed from 11 am to 5 pm, may be extended by an hour.

As the COVID19 positivity rate has been above 0.5% for the past few days, we are enforcing Level-I (Yellow alert) of the Graded Response Action Plan. A detailed order on restrictions to be implemented will be released soon: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal pic.twitter.com/tkJ9WtMaSz
— ANI (@ANI) December 28, 2021

Kejriwal said most of the Covid cases in the national capital are mild and there is no increase in the consumption of oxygen or the use of ventilators despite the rise in numbers. "We are 10 times more prepared than earlier to deal with the rise in Covid cases," the chief minister said.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

Show