Cases in Capital fall below 10k-mark, positivity at 12%
Delhi govt to bear cost of education and upbringing of children orphaned during pandemic, announces Kejriwal
Delhi has recorded around 8,500 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours as against over 28,000 cases on April 20 and the city’s positivity rate has come down to 12% as against 36% on April 22, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Friday, as he announced the government’s decision to provide financial aid to the families that have lost their earning members to the viral disease.
The chief minister said that the lower positivity rate means that a lesser number of people are falling ill in Delhi. The number of people admitted at hospitals has also reduced, he said.
“In the past 10 days, the number of patients in hospitals of Delhi has reduced by more than 3,000 patients. Which means that 3,000 beds have become empty. Now, there is no problem being faced to get beds in hospitals, yet one thing to be observed is that the ICU (intensive care unit) beds are still full,” Kejriwal said at a virtual press briefing.
While stressing that even till now ICU beds in hospitals of Delhi are almost full, he said that 1,200 new ICU beds have been prepared and will be ready to be utilised by Friday or Saturday.
The chief minister also thanked the people of Delhi for following lockdown restrictions, saying that there has been a decline in cases because of the contribution of every person. “We imposed a very strict lockdown in Delhi, but the people of Delhi offered their complete support in the same. Everyone adhered to the lockdown completely,” the chief minister said.
“Today everyone is talking about how the people of Delhi managed to reduce the number of coronavirus cases. This has been possible only because of the disciplined behaviour of the people of Delhi. But the battle is not won yet. The battle is yet to finish. Even now 8,500 cases have come up. This has to be reduced to zero. We have to end coronavirus entirely,” he said.
Kejriwal cautioned the residents against any laxity and said that “if we do not take precautions, the cases will increase again”.
“...Therefore by no means, we can let loose. The lockdown has to be adhered to strictly and