New Delhi, Mar 24 (IANS): Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) has directed that public celebration and gathering, congregation during upcoming festivals such as Holi, Shab-e-Barat, Navratri etc. will not be allowed in public places, including parks, markets, religious places. An order in this regard has been issued by Delhi Chief Secretary.

The decision has come hours after Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, who is also chairperson of DDMA, held a review meeting on increasing Covid-19 cases in the national capital on Monday.

"Situation of the Covid-19 in Delhi has been reviewed and it has been observed that a persistent rise in COVID -19 cases in NCT of Delhi during the last fort night. It anticipated that gathering, congregations, and public celebration during upcoming festivals like Holi, Shab-e-Barat, Navaratri etc. may pose a considerable threat of spread of virus and may cause setback to the appreciable gain made in the suppression of chain of transmission of Covid-19 cases in Delhi. Considering this it has been decided that public celebration and all gatherings/ during upcoming festivals will not be allowed in public places," an order issued by Delhi Chief Secretary Vijay Dev read.

On Tuesday, Delhi saw its daily Covid tally rise sharply to 1,101, as against 888 on Monday, while there were four more deaths reported.

According to the Delhi health bulletin, 620 patients were reported to have recovered from the infection, while the total active cases in the city stands at 4,411 on Tuesday.

The positivity rate was 1.31 per cent, while the cumulative positive rate went up to 4.65 per cent, and cumulative cases to 6,49,973.

A total of 84,237 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of tests conducted in the city to 13,974,132.