Positivity rate dipped by 5 percentage points in 5 days: CM
New Delhi: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said that despite the extraordinary challenges Delhi had faced, especially with a disadvantage from the get-go, his government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic had managed to overcome them. Amid criticisms from all quarters, as the 3rd wave rages on, the CM said the daily positivity rate had dipped by five percentage points.
He also compared the city's response to the pandemic with that of New York City's, noting that Delhi's healthcare infrastructure had not collapsed like the American city's and hailed his government's flagship home isolation model for aiding in achieving such results.
"Bed management was my priority and death minimisation was my priority. Delhi has 33 percent more cases than New York when it was at its peak but only 16 percent of its deaths," CM Kejriwal said.
"We initiated a home isolation concept very early this year. Currently, there are 43,000 active Covid-19 cases in Delhi but I do not have that many beds in hospitals dedicated to the treatment of Covid-19 patients. Nearly 25,000 patients of the viral disease are being treated at home under the proper supervision of doctors appointed by the government," he said.
The CM was speaking at a leadership summit organised by a leading news publication when he made these remarks.
The CM said that plasma therapy has been one of the key treatment strategies of his government in handling the Covid-19 health crisis and that it was introduced as early as May. The Corona app also received its fair share of praise from the CM as it showed the availability of beds in real-time.
While the CM has maintained that cities cannot go into another lockdown given the economic fallout, he said the first lockdown was necessary. "We did not have enough information and resources to handle the pandemic. We got to prepare the infrastructure during that period," he said, adding that every government needs to assess its health infrastructure before imposing a lockdown.
He also said that Delhi's Corona warriors should get the vaccine first as he appreciated their efforts in the ongoing battle against Covid-19, followed by senior citizens, people with comorbidities. He added that there should be no VIP vaccines and that the Delhi government would give suggestions to the Centre in due course of time on the same subject.