Delhi has also recorded the highest number of Omicron cases in India.
The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) today in a meeting decided not to impose any fresh restrictions in the national capital in view of the steadily rising number of Covid cases and fears of the highly contagious Omicron variant of the virus.
It was decided that the "yellow alert" of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) will continue for some time. A decision on further restrictions will be taken in the next DDMA meeting, after monitoring bed occupancy in hospitals.
The virtual review meeting of the DDMA was chaired by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and was attended by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and several experts.
In a series of tweets after the meeting, Mr Baijal said, "It was decided to continue with the existing restrictions imposed recently in view of rising cases and to keep a close vigil on the ground situation. The Health department was advised to enhance the health preparedness to deal effectively with the emerging situation and to closely monitor bed occupancy besides strengthening the home isolation strategy."
"It was also reiterated to continue with the Test, Track & Treat strategy with special focus on surveillance, dealienation (delineation) of containment zones, isolation of positive cases and close monitoring of home isolation cases so as to break the chain of transmission," the LG added.
The colour-coded action plan determines levels of restrictions in activities based on three parameters - the test positivity rate of Covid cases, cumulative active cases, and occupancy of oxygen beds in hospitals. Restrictions have been classified under Yellow, Amber, Orange, and Red alerts. While Yellow is the lowest level of alert, Red is the highest, which will bring the city under a complete lockdown.
A yellow alert is issued if the positivity rate remains over 0.5 per cent for two consecutive days, or cumulative new positive cases (for a duration of one week) touch 1,500 cases, or the average occupancy of oxygen beds in hospitals remains 500 for a week.
The yellow alert entails restrictions like night curfew, closure of schools and colleges, opening of shops selling non-essential items on an odd-even basis, and halved seating capacity in Metro trains and buses, among other things.
Delhi on Tuesday imposed restrictions after a yellow alert was issued following the capital's biggest single-day spike in infections in six months, with 331 new cases on Monday. The positivity rate - the percentage of samples that return positive - was above 0.5 per cent for two days. On Wednesday, the capital recorded 923 fresh COVID-19 cases, the highest since May 30, while the positivity rate stood at 1.29 per cent, health department data showed.
On Tuesday, the city had recorded 496 cases, the highest since June 4, with a positivity rate of 0.89 per cent, according to official data.
Delhi has also recorded the highest number of Omicron cases in India.
According to official figures, out of the 8,965 dedicated Covid beds, 262 or 2.92 per cent were occupied and 97 per cent were vacant on December 28.
The occupancy of oxygenated beds (8,405) was 3.04 per cent, ICU beds (2,769) 0.97 per cent and ventilators (1,379) 1.08 per cent. The vacancy on these beds ranged from 96 per cent to 99 per cent on December 28, the data showed.
In contrast, the occupancy during the second wave of COVID-19 was 29.79 per cent of dedicated beds, 30.77 per cent of oxygenated beds, 57.9 per cent of ICU beds and 72.15 per cent of ventilators on May 25, it stated.
Chief Minister Kejriwal had recently assured the people that the government is prepared to handle a surge in Covid cases. "We are 10 times more prepared than earlier to deal with the rise in Covid cases in Delhi," he had said, adding that Covid cases were mild and there was no increase in the consumption of oxygen or the use of ventilators despite the rise in numbers.