Until a week before Delhi resident Sahil Gulati was due to get married, he had second thoughts about whether to go through with the celebra...
Until a week before Delhi resident Sahil Gulati was due to get married, he had second thoughts about whether to go through with the celebration in the middle of the pandemic. Delhi’s healthcare system was being battered by a sharp rise in the number of Covid-19 cases and gasping patients in need of oxygen were dying because they could not find beds in the city’s already-packed hospitals.
Still, after some thought, the Gulati family decided to proceed with the wedding on April 26 – although with a very small reception. “Around 30-40 people from both sides attended the wedding,” said Gulati. “Everyone was masked up and we followed all the guidelines. We didn’t let any of our elders like grandmothers attend the wedding.”
With 26 out of every 100 tests turning up positive, Delhi has nearly 92,000 active Covid-19 cases. Since April 14, the number of Covid-19 deaths in Delhi every day has been in three digits. On May 3, the national capital recorded 448 Covid-related deaths – its highest single day death toll since the onset of pandemic in March last year. On May 6, the city recorded 335 deaths.
In March, a Union government panel on the Covid-19 situation concluded that super-spreader events like weddings might be...
