'Delhi's testing rate per day per 10 lakh of population highest in world'

New Delhi: The government on Monday came out swinging in the special one-day session of the Delhi Assembly over its handling of the pandemic with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal saying that COVID-19 tests per day per million of its population is the highest in the world. The CM added that key interventions such as introducing home isolation and plasma therapy were breakthrough ways of handling the pandemic and that all of the city's 2 crore people are responsible for making the "Delhi model" a success.

In his address to the House on Monday, the CM also announced that the Capital had now managed to test a whopping 11 per cent of its total population. "No other state or city in the world has tested 10% of its total population," he said, adding that no government can achieve such results alone. He thanked the Centre for its support and said, "The society came forward to help us, the two crore people of Delhi, many social organizations, many doctors' associations helped us. An NGO StepOne helped us, religious organizations such as Radhaswami Satsang and Jain Dharamshala helped us.

In fact, Health Minister Satyendar Jain also told the House that Delhi was conducting a large number of tests daily and that the COVID-19 situation "is under control" and that there is "no need for people to panic". Significantly, CM Kejriwal also said, "The concern should be number of deaths not the number of COVID cases. Death rate in Delhi is perhaps the lowest in the

whole world."

"We have conducted micro-audits of the Corona cases, hospitals, and the process a patient goes through in Delhi. We conducted micro-management of all hospitals in Delhi. Today, the death rate in Delhi is 0.6%, which I think is the least in all the states," the CM said.

In addition to attributing the low death rate to its home isolation programme, the Delhi government also hailed the plasma therapy, which was first started in the Capital. The CM said that around 1,965 people had been treated with convalescent plasma therapy in Delhi and said the city is proud to be pitching in to save lives of thousands.

Not shying away from criticism, the CM also addressed possible faults with his government' handling of the crisis and said, "I want to request the opposition leaders, I am not saying that the Corona management in Delhi is 100% correct. If there are mistakes, we have to correct them. It is our responsibility as well as your responsibility to check on the mistakes. If we are at fault, you should also correct our mistakes, Delhi has elected us as well as you."

The chief minister also spoke of lessons COVID-19 can teach governments and said, "A quick turnaround happened in Delhi because we invested in the healthcare sector in Delhi in the last five years. The Corona infection demands a special treatment. We had to convert all beds in LNJP hospital to Corona beds for treatment. This turnaround was possible because a basic infrastructure was available with us."