India’s capital Delhi imposes a weekend curfew to try and curb the spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus as cases have risen in the past few days.

Speaking during a press conference, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said Delhi will impose a weekend curfew and work from home for government offices to tackle soaring Covid cases. He also said most offices would have to make half their employees work from home.

Buses and the Delhi metro will operate at full capacity, he added.

The government has asked people not to panic as buses and metro trains will run at 100 percent capacity, but with strict COVID-19 safety rules like social distancing and wearing masks as these modes of transport can turn into super-spreaders.

In Addition, those engaged in essential services are also exempted from any restriction.

Delhi today reported 5,500 fresh COVID-19 cases and the positivity rate spiraled to 8.5 percent, with Health Minister Satyendar Jain saying the Omicron variant is behind the surge of infections in the city and more restrictions will be implemented if the bed occupancy rate goes up.

The number of new cases and the positivity rate in the city is the highest since last year May.