NEW DELHI: Delhi chief minister
Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said the third
Covid-19 wave which struck the capital towards the end of October and climbed to its peak in November is now under control.
The positivity rate was 15% in November and has now declined to 1.3% while active cases which touched 45,000 last month have now come down to just 12,000. Delhi has a recovery rate of 96.5%; there were 131 deaths on 19 November, but now it has come down to 37, the CM said in a press conference adding the figures are very less compared to other states. Kejriwal however advised the people not to let their guard down till the time the vaccine is available and continue following Covid-19 guidelines like wearing masks and maintaining social distancing.
“The third wave in Delhi is over. In the month of November, once Covid single-day cases touched 8,600. Not only in India but also across the globe this was the highest number of Covid-19 cases reported in a day from a city. The citizens stood firm with the Delhi government and helped us to bring the situation under control," the CM said.
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Covid-19 pandemic's first wave came to Delhi in June when the number of cases started increasing and the number of deaths also increased. In the month of August and September, the national capital witnessed the second wave. Delhi witnessed the third wave of the pandemic in the month of October," Kejriwal said while referring to high pollution level when the capital was hit by the third wave.
Kejriwal referred to New York’s
Covid situation in the first week of April to show how the situation was better in Delhi. "New York city reported 6,300 cases in one day. Then it was the highest number of cases reported in a single day and Covid-19 patients were lying outside the hospitals of New York and on the streets. The beds were full, and the ICU beds were also occupied. But in Delhi when 8,600 cases were reported in a single day even then the situation was under control. In Delhi, the Covid patients were not lying on the streets or the corridors of hospitals. On the day when 8,600 cases were reported in Delhi around 9,500 bed were occupied and around 7,000 beds were still vacant. The management of the pandemic in Delhi was very strong," Kejriwal said.
Lauding the role of the doctors, healthcare professionals, officials and other Covid warriors, the CM said the deaths will further go down as the government is working on it.
"Until August 20 we were conducting 20,000 tests per day. Then the second wave of Covid pandemic hit Delhi and we asked the officials to increase the number of testing. Within 10 days Delhi conducted 60,000 tests per day. When the third wave of the pandemic hit Delhi then we increased the number of tests per day from 60,000 to 90,000. This number is highest across India and also across the globe. Today Delhi is conducting 4,500 tests per 10 lakh population in a day. The number of tests per 10 lakh population is 670 in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat 800, US 4300 and in UK 4800," Kejriwal said adding that the situation was brought under control because Delhi government conducted genuine tests and did not manipulate the numbers.
"In November there was a time when 9,500 beds were occupied in Delhi but on that day also around 7,000 beds were empty. Today around 3,400 beds are full and all the other beds are empty," Kejriwal said. He stressed that Delhi has given the world various new techniques to fight Covid pandemic. "Delhi was the first to implement the plasma treatment in the month of May. Following our success on August 27 the deferral government of the USA implemented plasma therapy in the US,” Kejriwal said adding that Delhi also gave the world the model of home isolation which took much pressure off the hospitals.
Kejriwal stressed that Delhi was the first state to announce Rs 1 crore financial assistance to the family in the case of death of Covid warriors on the line of duty. The CM also thanked the central government for support.