Dining at restaurants has been banned in new Covid curbs in Delhi as the national capital scrambles to contain a frightening surge in new infections over the past few days.

However, restaurants in the national capital will be allowed home delivery and takeaways.

The new restrictions are the part of the Graded Response Action plan that has seen the city implementing a weekend curfew last week.

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority had called on the meeting amid rise in the number of coronavirus cases and its variant Omicron. During the meeting, chaired by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and attended by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, ways to strictly enforce existing restrictions to check rising cases of the coronavirus and its Omicron variant were also discussed.

The city today reported 19,166 new Covid cases and the positivity rate was at 25 per cent. It also reported 17 deaths.

The new wave of infections is partly fuelled by the Omicron variant, which is more infectious than the Delta strain. It leads to milder symptoms, but doctors have warned against underestimating it.