Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said that the current Covid -19 situation is better than what it was in June, but the war against the disease has not been won yet.
In a digital conference, Kejriwal said there are three key principles behind Delhi’s model of fighting Corona, Our three principles include teamwork and collectivity, correcting the lapses when pointed out, and not losing hope,” adding, “Delhi has recorded 1.15 lakh cases against 2.25 lakh estimated in Delhi by July.”
Citing a report of State ( Delhi ) health department, he said there are only 1.15 lakh total cases and 18600 active cases in the
"One and a half month back, around June 1 when the number of Corona cases was rising, we had presented the projected number of cases of Corona as of June 30, July 15, and July 31 in front of the people. This projection was done as per the central govt's formula of identifying the number of cases in the future according to the trend at that time,” Kejriwal said that as per the Centre's formula, there was a prediction of 2.25 lakh cases by July 15 according to the surge in the number of cases in the first week of June. Out of the 2.25 lakh cases, around 1.34 lakh active cases would have been active, for which 34,000 beds would have been needed in Delhi. He said, "But due to the collective efforts of all the governments, including Delhi government, central government, and the 2 crore people of Delhi, the actual number of cases is half from what we had projected till July 15. There are 1,15,000 Corona cases in Delhi, out of which only 18,600 cases are active against our projection of 1,34,000 active cases. Only 4000 beds, as against our projection that 34,000 beds would be needed. We have arranged for 15,500 beds for the treatment of Corona patients, out of which only 4000 beds are occupied and the rest remain vacant."
"The situation is under control, but as I say, we should not be complacent. The number of cases can surge at any moment. I want to thank all of the people who put in the effort and worked hard to control the Corona situation in Delhi, especially the 2 crore people of Delhi. I believe that it is neither because of me nor because of the cabinet of ministers in Delhi, that the situation has been brought under control. It has happened because of the people, doctors, nurses, Corona warriors, who have worked day and night to control the situation without caring for their lives," he added.
Point out the death rate in the city, he said that in June, there were days when the number of deaths had climbed to more than 100, it has now come down to 30-35. He said, "We have to reduce the deaths further. We did extensive planning to ascertain the causes of deaths.” “The first reason was testing. Because testing was not being done on time, the symptoms increased and got severe, which resulted in the patient's death. We have increased the number of tests and people are not facing any trouble now."
He also said that more beds were subsequently arranged in the hospitals and other facilities in Delhi. "There was a shortage of beds in hospitals in the month of June. There were 4100 beds in Delhi on June 1 and today there are 15500 beds in Delhi. In a month, we have arranged four times the number of beds that were available earlier. On June 1, there were only 300 ICU beds in Delhi, and today, there are 2100 ICU beds.”
“Out of these, around 1100 beds are occupied. We have arranged ICU beds on a very large scale, which is why people are confident that if they have to go to the hospital, there would be no shortage of ICU beds. For the first time in Delhi, plasma therapy trials were started, which produced very encouraging results. We started the plasma bank in Delhi, where anyone can obtain plasma. I do not claim that plasma will save everyone's life, but plasma has proven to be helpful in saving lives. We are in a much better position today than we were in June. But that does not mean that the battle has been won, there is a long way to go. The number of cases may surge again. But, we do not have to complacent or do nothing, our preparations must be made. We always have to wear masks, adhere to social distancing, and repeatedly sanitize and wash our hands to save ourselves from Corona."