HTLS 2020: Delhi’s Covid fight didn’t start from zero, yet we have done well, says Kejriwal
Kejriwal argued that the third wave in Delhi was a result of several factors that were not in control of the city.
Under fire from several quarters for the third wave of coronavirus hitting the national capital with average new infections going way past the previous highs recorded in the city, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal defended Delhi’s record in fight against Sars-Cov-2 virus and said that despite having started with a disadvantage, the decease containment measures adopted in Delhi have worked well.
The chief minister said that by the time governments could understand how to fight the disease and develop containment protocols; a large number of infected people could have already arrived in the capital.
Covid 3rd wave, vaccine, pollution: CM Kejriwal on Delhi’s battle #HTLS2020
“It was around March 16, when the first quarantine guidelines were released. Around 32,000 travellers had already arrived from infected countries in the capital without any screening,” the chief minister said.
He added that as on March 22, when the Delhi government first asked the district officials to identify all the passengers and attempt to isolate them. It was practically impossible to identify these people,” Kejriwal reasoned.
He cited the above example to argue that Delhi had faced “several extraordinary situations” during the past days and there have been several factors that were “not in our (the government’s) control” but we (the city) still stood up to the challenge.
“Delhi didn’t start its fight (against coronavirus) with a zero, it started with, who knows how many thousand positive cases,” Kejriwal said.
The CM was in conversation with HT’s executive editor Kunal Pradhan for 18th Hindustan Times Leadership Summit on Friday evening.
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The chief minister also stated that the rise in pollution levels in winters since October 10 due to stubble burning is another factor that is not in the city’s control but contributes to worsening of the infection in the capital.
“Delhi has taken several steps to control pollution generated by the city but it has no control over pollution contributed by outside factors. All experts say that pollution has contributed in a big way in bringing the third wave of coronavirus in Delhi,” he said.
Pollution also aggravates the coronavirus in patients, he said citing experts.
Kejriwal further claimed that despite the big peak of cases seen in the third wave, which was way bigger than the one seen in cities like New York, the city had managed the crisis well.
“The third wave-- on 11th November, 8593 cases were registered in Delhi. New York City saw a peak on april 6 with 6353 cases. 575 patients died in NY city that day. Patients couldn’t find beds, they were made to lie on roads outside hospitals; there were corpses lying in a heap. NewYork, one of the best cities in one of the most developed countries, had collapsed but Delhi didn’t (during the Covid peak). Delhi is still sustaining,” Kejriwal said.
“We have 7.5 thousand corona beds and 450 vacant ICU beds in Delhi as of today. We will add another 100-1500 ICU beds to this capacity in the next couple of days,” he added, backing his argument that Delhi planned and dealt with coronavirus in a much better manner.
He revealed that the city’s positivity rate had come down in the last five days by 5% to around 10% and this offers hope that the third wave will blow away very soon if the trend of drop in positivity rates continues.
