Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said both the number of daily COVID-19 cases and the positivity rate in the Capital had declined but the city’s battle against the coronavirus was yet to be won.
“The city has recorded 8,500 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours. This is the first time in many days that cases below 10,000 have been recorded; on April 20, as many as 28,000 cases had emerged. The positivity rate has also reduced to around 12%; on April 22 this had reached around 36%; this means that less people are falling ill in the city now,” Mr. Kejriwal told a digital briefing.
“ICU beds are still occupied — which means that the number of serious patients hasn’t reduced — but 3,000 hospital beds are available and people are no longer facing issues finding hospital beds. However, the battle hasn’t been won yet; 8,500 cases have come up and we have to reduce these to zero. We can’t afford to be complacent or let our guard down,” he also said.
Though the Chief Minister did not talk about the possibility of extending the lockdown in the city for the fourth consecutive time, he asked citizens to continue to strictly comply with the provisions of the ongoing third instalment of the lockdown.
Mr. Kejriwal also appealed to the neighbours and relatives of families who had lost their kin to help them heal even as he assured them that the Delhi government would assist them financially.
“Over the last few days, despite our best efforts, we couldn’t save many of our own. Some families lost more than one of their kin. I personally know some families where children lost both their parents; I want to tell such kids that ‘I am with you, I am here for you’; we will not let the education of any such child stop; the government will take care of them and their expenses,” he said.
“To those senior citizens who lost their children, such families who lost their earning members, I want to say you will be assisted by the Delhi government. I appeal to the neighbours and relatives of such families to please step forward to help heal such households,” the Chief Minister said.
