New Delhi: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday announced that Delhi had finally reported daily cases below 10,000 for the first time since the brutal fourth wave of the pandemic in the city began and that the city's positivity rate had gone down to 12 per cent.
But on a sombre note, the CM acknowledged, "The last few days have gone in despair. Despite several efforts, we could not save our people of Delhi," and announced that the Delhi government will be providing financial and economic support to all families in the city that lost an earning member to COVID-19.
"Some families had to face the deaths of more than one person. I pray to God to provide peace to all these souls. All those families who have lost an earning member will be helped by the government," he said.
The CM spoke of elderly couples losing earning children and children losing both parents and said that these two groups of people need the most support and urged all residents to take care of them in these times. He said, "The 2-crore people of Delhi, we are a family. In these times of despair, we need to help each other. On the occasion of the festival of Eid, I pray for the health and happiness of all."
While announcing the numbers on Friday, in a precautionary tone, the CM said that Delhi had reported some 8,500 new infections in the last 24 hours, down from around 28,000 during the peak and that the city's infection rate for 24 hours had fallen from 36 per cent on April 22 to 12 per cent on Friday (May 14).
The CM said, "This means that fewer people are falling ill in Delhi. The number of people admitted to the hospitals has also reduced. In the past 10 days, the number of patients in hospitals of Delhi has reduced by more than 3,000 patients."
He said this meant that 3,000 beds had been emptied during this time. "Now, there is no problem being faced to get beds in hospitals," he said, acknowledging that ICU beds are still full.
"This means the number of serious patients has not declined much. Even now the ICU beds in the hospitals of Delhi are almost full. Your government is also working in this direction. Around 1,200 new ICU beds have been prepared and are now ready to be utilised by today or tomorrow. This will bring great relief to the people of Delhi," the chief minister announced.
He added that this flattening of the curve was possible only because the people of Delhi made the lockdown work and followed rules. But he said the "battle is not won yet" and said precautions and preparations are the only way forward to erase Coronavirus entirely.