PremiumAs novel coronavirus cases in the national capital witness a dip from record high cases since the last few days, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is gearing up to prepare for the third wave of Covid-19.
Speaking to reporters in Delhi, Kejriwal said that the national capital is preparing for 30,000 Covid-19 cases in the next wave. "In this wave, Delhi recorded maximum 28,000 cases in a day. The scale at which we're creating infrastructure, we'll be able to deal even if 30,000 daily cases are reported in next wave," he said.
Premium Premium Earlier today, Kejriwal along with Health Minister Satyendar Jain inspected a COVID care centre near GTB hospital.
He also added that the Delhi government has requested the Centre to give the city more Covid-19 vaccines to boost the vaccination drive further.
"We're left with vaccine stock vaccines for 3-4 days. We're placed orders with companies but I think Central govt is allocating the vaccines because we get letter from Central govt about the stock that we would get in a month. We request Centre to give us more vaccines,' he said.
Meanwhile, amid the requirement of Covid vaccines in the national capital, the BJP on Monday slammed Kejriwal government over the COVID-19 crisis, claiming the chief minister has been busy spending crores on publicity and "misleading" people while washing his hands of responsibility and leaving everything to the Centre.
Addressing a virtual press conference, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra cited a RTI reply to say that the Kejriwal government has spent around ₹805 crore on advertisements since 2015 but not opened a single new hospital in the city.
He has been making daily appearances on the TV, "misleading" people and "lying", Patra said, attacking the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader.
Patra noted that Kejriwal had claimed on April 26 that his government will order 1.34 crore vaccines, which is worth nearly ₹1,400 crore.
In response, Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said, "Today BJP alleged that Delhi govt ordered only 5.50 lakh doses of vaccine. Govt of India decided in April that the 2 companies can sell vaccines to states directly, states were also told the same. We ordered 1.34 crore doses for Delhi for people above 18 years."
"Right after our order, Centre sent us a letter - vaccine companies hadn't responded by then - that Delhi can get only 92,840 doses of Covaxin & 2,67,690 doses of Covishield in May. BJP is lying that we ordered only 5.50 lakh doses. We had ordered 1.34 crore doses," Sisodia added.
"These letters are proof that Centre is cutting short the number of vaccines being asked by the states and selling that to foreign countries. In what greed were 6.50 crore vaccines supplied to foreign countries when people in our own country are dying?," said Sisodia, reported news agency ANI.
Meanwhile, Delhi on Monday reported 319 more COVID-19 fatalities and 12,651 new infections, the lowest in four weeks, with a positivity rate of 19.10 percent, the Health Department said.
The dip in new cases, the lowest since April 12, can also be ascribed to a smaller number of tests (66,234) conducted on Sunday.
At 19.10 per cent, the positivity rate is the lowest since April 16, when it stood at 19.7 percent, according to government data.
The positivity rate has remained above the 20 per cent mark since April 17.
It was 21.67 per cent on Sunday, 23.34 per cent on Saturday, 24.92 per cent on Friday, 24.29 per cent on Thursday, 26.37 per cent on Wednesday, 26.73 per cent on Tuesday, 29.56 per cent on last Monday, 28.33 per cent on Sunday.
The national capital conducted 66,234 tests, including 57,265 RTPCR/CBNAAT/True Nat tests on Sunday as compared to less than 50,000 tests the previous day.
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