On the projection that Delhi would have 1 lakh cases by the end of June, Kejriwal, during the webcast, said collective efforts made to fight the infection meant the city was better placed than it was expected initially.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Wednesday said that while the Covid situation in Delhi was not as alarming as projected earlier, no one should believe “experts on social media” who have claimed that the number of cases in the city has peaked and will decrease henceforth.
Kejriwal, addressing a webcast, said: “Experts are commenting on social media that Delhi’s peak has come and gone. Don’t listen to them. Wear masks, maintain social distancing, wash hands regularly, don’t make a mistake. We have managed to bring the situation under control after a lot of concerted effort. There is a saying, hope for the best, prepare for worst. That’s what we have to do.”
Later in the day, the CM visited the Covid care centre being readied at the Commonwealth Games Village. The centre will have around 500 beds and a facility for doctors to stay at, and will be managed by NGO Doctors for You.
Dr Saket Kumar, in-charge of the facility, said, “The facility should be ready in the next three days. We are aiming at beginning operations on Monday. There are arrangements for doctors who are coming in from different parts of the country. There will be approximately 40 doctors, 80 nurses and 120 paramedic staff.”
Separate wards have been created for men and women. The CM, after his visit, said that while he hoped extra facilities will not be required, if there is a spike, the city will be ready to deal with it.
On the projection that Delhi would have 1 lakh cases by the end of June, Kejriwal, during the webcast, said collective efforts made to fight the infection meant the city was better placed than it was expected initially.
“Close to a month ago, when lockdown was eased in Delhi, the number of cases rose very quickly. We had expected this rise but not at this speed. At the time, the website created by national experts for the central government used to give us future projections of the number of corona cases in the country after a month or two months. According to that, our projections showed that by June 30, there would be around 1 lakh cases in Delhi, out of which 60,000 would be active cases and around 15,000 beds will be needed in the hospitals,” he said.
The city saw 87,360 cases till June 30. Of these, 26,270 were active cases. On Wednesday, the city saw 2,442 cases, taking the total to 89,802 . As per the government dashboard, of the 15,242 hospital beds at present, 9,444 are available. 61 deaths were reported on Wednesday.
“We have managed to control the situation somewhat. At present, the number of those being hospitalised is also decreasing. Last week, about 6,200 people were admitted. This number has now fallen below 5,800. We also see that where the recovery rate was around 38% last month, it has now risen to 67%… Where on June 23 there were 3,950 new cases, this number was around 2,200 on Tuesday. Positivity rate has fallen from 31% to around 13% now. The number of deaths per day has halved as compared to that on some days. While there is a decrease in these parameters, these numbers could rise again. We cannot be complacent. This virus is unpredictable,” he said.