New Delhi: With COVID-19 cases and deaths showing a declining trend in Delhi, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said the situation has been brought under control. However, he cautioned people against complacency while dealing with the “unpredictable” coronavirus and urged them to keep maintaining social distance and wear masks.
Referring to the estimations shared by health experts on the rise of cases in Delhi at a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority, chaired by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal in early June, Kejriwal said it was projected that the National Capital would have 1 lakh cases, of which 60,000 would be active cases, and require 15,000 beds by June 30.
Active cases far lower than projected
“But,” he said, “due to concerted efforts of the government, a situation has emerged where there were only 26,000 active cases on June 30, which was about a third of what was projected.” As such, he insisted, “we have for the time being controlled the situation.”
As for availability of hospital beds, Kejriwal said while a month ago there were 8,500 beds available for COVID-19 patients in hospitals. That number has been raised sharply by taking hospitals, hotels and banquet halls on board. He said some court clearances were also obtained to remove the hurdles.
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The chief minister said there were other parameters too which indicated an improvement in the situation. “It was said that 15,000 beds would be required by June 30. At the time these projections were made 250 patients were being added daily to the hospitals. We have arranged that many beds but right now 5,800 patients are in hospital. Also, keeping in view that a month ago there were 6,250 patients in hospitals, this number too has reduced by 450.”
Rise in percentage of people getting cured, fewer new cases
Also, he said, while the number of people in hospitals is reducing, those who are getting cured is rising. “Earlier 38% of patients were getting cured. That figure has also risen to 67% and so far nearly 58,000 of the 87,360 COVID positive people in Delhi have got cured,” he pointed out.
Another encouraging sign, he said, was the reduction in new cases. “On June 23, nearly 4,000 new cases had come whereas yesterday (June 30), only about 2,200 new cases came. So for the last few days there has been a marked decline in the numbers.”
Drop in deaths, percentage of people testing positive
In the number of deaths too, he said, there has been a decline. “There was a day when around 125 people had died. That number has come down to around 60 per day now.”
Also, Kejriwal said a lesser percentage of people are testing positive for the virus now. “Earlier 31 out of 100 would test positive, now just around 13% are testing positive.”
But, he added, that it was not a time to rest content and relax. “This is an unpredictable virus and so the Delhi Government would continue with its efforts. Some experts have started writing on social media that the cases in Delhi will now drop, but my appeal is that we should continue with wearing masks and maintaining social distancing. We should hope for the best but prepare for the worst,” he added.