The lockdown imposed in Delhi to slow the spread of coronavirus has been extended by a week, and will continue till 5 am on May 3. “We had imposed a 6-day lockdown in Delhi. The lockdown is being extended to next Monday till 5 am,” Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said in a press conference on Sunday.

Delhi recorded the highest single-day rise in its COVID-19 deaths with 357 more people succumbing to the viral disease on Saturday as well as over 24,000 fresh cases. The city has reported nearly 2,500 deaths due to the deadly virus in a 12-day period.

Arvind Kejriwal on last Monday, April 19 had announced a six-day lockdown in the national capital to curb the spread of coronavirus in Delhi, which is struggling amid the second wave of COVID. While imposing the lockdown, Kejriwal had said that health infrastructure of Delhi has been stretched to its limit. 

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Delhi hospitals over the last few days have sent out multiple SOS calls, saying that they worth an hour or two hours of medical oxygen left. Delhi’s Jaipur Golden Hospital on Saturday said that over past night, 20 patients died in the hospital due to lack of oxygen. A day before, 25 sickest patients died in Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.

The Delhi CM on Sunday, while extending the lockdown, said, that a portal on oxygen has been set up and it will be updated every two hours by oxygen manufacturers, suppliers and hospitals for better management of oxygen supply. “The Central and State teams are working together,” Arvind Kejriwal said.