Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain on Monday said that the third wave of COVID-19 has passed its peak in the national capital and there will be no reimposition of lockdown.
"There will be no reimposition of lockdown in Delhi. I don't think it will be an effective step now, wearing of masks by everyone will be more beneficial. The third wave of COVID-19 has passed its peak in Delhi," Satyendar Jain told news agency ANI.
The Health Minister further said that stern action will be taken against people who do not wear masks and do not follow social distancing norms in the national capital.
Satyendar Jain’s statement comes in the backdrop of Delhi being in the grip of an unprecedented wave of infections. The Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday had chaired a meeting in which a decision to provide hundreds of more intensive care unit (ICU) beds for COVID-19 patients in Delhi was taken.
With Delhi reeling from a fresh spike in COVID-19 cases, the Centre on Sunday announced a slew of steps including making available 300 additional ICU beds, double the number of daily RTPCR tests and a house-to-house survey in the entire national capital.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah also said some of the hospitals under the municipal corporations of Delhi will be converted into dedicated COVID hospitals. Doctors and paramedics of paramilitary forces will be flown in to be deployed in the national capital to deal with the shortage of manpower. The decisions were taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Shah and attended by Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan among others.
Delhi has reported 39,990 active COVID-19 cases, 4,37,801 recoveries and 7,614 fatalities, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on Monday.
(Inputs from Agencies)
The publishers permit sharing of the paper's PDF on WhatsApp and other social media platforms.)