Delhi witness small Rise in COVID-19 Cases: Kejriwal

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said that there has been a marginal increase in COVID-19 cases over the past few days adding that the test rates in the national capital would be doubled to around 40,000 per day as a precautionary measure.

Kejriwal in a video address said that the state government's primary strategy to contain COVID-19 outbreak to test and isolate has not changed saying that the situation in the city once the worst-affected in the country is fully under control.

He said, "I urge people to keep getting tested. People think they don't have major symptoms so no need to test, please do not do that. Please get tested. If you have COVID, get isolated at home till you are cured. So please keep getting tested."

Kejriwal pointed out that the recovery rate in the city was over 90 per cent, as opposed to the national average of around 76 per cent, and that no Covid-linked death had been reported from patients undergoing home isolation since July 14.

The Chief Minister highlighted a falling fatality rate – 1.4 per cent in August.

Kejriwal also laid stress on the readiness of medical infrastructure in Delhi, with special emphasis on availability of hospital beds. In June, when the city was reporting between 2,000 and 3,000 cases per day, patients were struggling to be admitted in hospitals.

"We have 14,130 hospital beds, of which 10,500 are vacant. Only 3,700 beds are occupied as of this morning," the Chief Minister also said, seeking to allay fears that Delhi might struggle to deal with another spurt in cases.

 Of the occupied beds, only 2,900 were occupied by Delhi residents. The rest, he said, had been given to people from other states and travellers returning to the country under the Vande Bharat Mission.