Covid situation in city under control: Kejriwal

Delhi recorded 1,300 fresh cases of the novel coronavirus on Sunday taking the infection tally to over 1.45 lakh, while the death toll mounted to 4,111. As many as 1, 30,587 patients have recovered, migrated or been discharged while the number of active cases stood at 10,729. Thirteen people died of Covid in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 4,111. While Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said the Covid situation in Delhi is under control and the recovery rate is improving.

Speaking at the inauguration of a hospital in Ambedkar Nagar, he said in case the situation takes a turn for the worse, the government is fully prepared to deal with it.

“The Covid situation is under control. All parameters are good, the recovery rate is improving, positivity ratio and deaths have reduced,” Mr Kejriwal said.

He said the inauguration of the hospital is a step towards strengthening the health infrastructure in the city. “We have gradually increased the number of Covid beds,” he added.

“The hospital was conceived in 2013. It is a 600bed hospital. We are inaugurating the first 200 beds which will be used for the treatment of Covid patients,” he said at the

launch event.

“I pray to God that these 200 beds are not needed in the future... we never get to a situation where we have to use these beds. But even if the situation becomes bad again, we are fully prepared to deal with it,” he said.

CM Kejriwal said the rest of the beds and ICUs will become operational within a month-and-ahalf. “This hospital was scheduled to begin operations after a few months, but it has been inaugurated today. I want to thank and congratulate engineers, doctors, and all the people for their efforts in making this 200-bed hospital available for the people of Delhi,” he said.

On July 25, CM Kejriwal had inaugurated a 450bed hospital in Burari. The hospital will eventually have a total of 700 beds.

There were 10,667 active Covid cases in Delhi on Saturday, while the death toll stood at 4,098, the government data showed.

— AFP Asha hold placards and shout slogans during a protest to draw attention to their plight of underpayment and lack of protection from Covid in New Delhi on Sunday.