India's Delhi to lock down for six days as COVID-19 outbreak worsens

FILE PHOTO: People walk at a crowded market amidst the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in the old quarters of Delhi, India, April 6, 2021. REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis

The Indian capital New Delhi will be under a strict lockdown for six days starting on Monday night, the city's Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, adding the healthcare system was at a breaking point because of the worsening COVID-19 outbreak.

The city was also facing acute shortages of hospital beds, medical oxygen supplies and key medicines such as the anti-viral Remdesivir, Kejriwal said.

FILE PHOTO: Healthcare workers load the body of a man died from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) into an ambulance, in Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) hospital, amidst the spread of the disease in New Delhi, India April 15, 2021. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

(Reporting by Neha Arora, Devjyot Ghoshal in NEW DELHI and Nivedita Bhattacharjee in BENGALURU; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)