Delhi Now Has 43 Coronavirus Hotspots, Up From Yesterday's 33

Ten new coronavirus hotspots have been identified in Delhi over a 24-hour period, it was announced on Sunday evening, taking the total number of hotspots in the national capital to 43; 33 were identified on Saturday, 30 on Friday and 25 on Thursday.

Hotspots identified today include parts of East of Kailash, a posh residential colony in southeast Delhi, and parts of Khadda Colony in Jaitpur Extension, Madanpur Khadar, Abul Fazal Enclave and Shera Mohalla Garhi (also in the southeast), and Bengali Colony in Mahaveer Enclave (southwest Delhi).

"We have identified more containment zones in the capital. We have declared containment areas as 'red zones' and high-risk areas as 'orange zones'," Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, adding that no new cases had been reported from areas where his government's Operation Shield is in effect.

Operation Shield, which stands for "Sealing, Home Quarantine, Isolation and Tracking, Essential Supply, Local Santisation and Door-To-Door Checking", has been credited with making Dilshad Garden in northeast Delhi - the city's first hotspot - free of infection.

In line with Operation Shield, the Delhi government is to launch a massive sanitisation drive across all containment areas and hotspots from Monday, Mr Kejriwal said, adding that these would be done by 10 machines imported from Japan and 50 others from the Delhi Jal Board.

Delhi has 1,069 COVID-19 cases so far and 19 deaths have been linked to the virus. Of the active cases more than 430 have been linked to the religious gathering held by Islamic sect Tablighi Jamaat in south Delhi's Nizamuddin - also one of the hotspots - last month.

The 21-day "total lockdown" ordered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March to contain the spread of the virus ends on Tuesday.

On Saturday the Prime Minister and 13 chief ministers, including Mr Kejriwal, took part in a video conference to discuss its extension. After a four-hour meeting the PM indicated it will be prolonged by two weeks. Shortly after Mr Kejriwal said the decision was "correct".

The centre has revealed a plan to colour-code all districts in the country - red for areas with over 15 positive cases, orange for those below that threshold and green for districts that have not reported any infection.

The coding is likely to result in almost half the country being coloured either orange or red, after it emerged today that over 50 per cent of the districts have reported COVID-19 cases. 364 districts have been affected by the outbreak currently; this number was 284 on April 6 and 160 on March 29.

Across the country there are over 7,400 active cases and 273 deaths. Worldwide nearly 18 lakh people have been infected and 1.09 lakh killed.

With input from PTI