New Delhi: As Delhi on Sunday reported over 4,000 new COVID-19 cases for the third day in a row after months, Health Minister Satyendar Jain took a dig at the BJP-run civic bodies for being unable to pay salaries to its doctors and healthcare workers.
According to the Delhi government's bulletin, Sunday saw the Capital report 4,136 new COVID-19 cases. The city also added 33 deaths to its toll from the virus, taking fatalities here to 6,258. Total cases in the city have now gone past 3.56 lakh.
Meanwhile, as senior doctors at North MCD-run hospitals remain on track for tendering mass resignations on Monday (today) over unpaid salaries to COVID warriors, Jain on Sunday said it was puzzling how the MCDs had money to pay for hoardings but not to pay salaries of doctors.
Jain was reacting to the indefinite hunger strike by Resident Doctors' Associations of New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) Medical College and Hindu Rao hospital, who have been protesting for the past few weeks against the non-payment of salaries.
"Salaries are paid by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. Instead of paying doctors' salaries, don't know where MCD is spending its funds. They have money for hoardings but not for salaries," the health minister said while briefing the health bulletin.
As for the COVID-19 situation in the city, Jain said, "In the last 10 days, the death toll has been 0.94 percent while the overall fatality ratio stands at 1.77 percent."
The tally of active cases on Sunday rose to 26,744 from 26,467 the previous day. The number of containment zones in Delhi increased to 2,893 from 2,840 on Saturday. The number of Rapid Antigen Tests conducted on Sunday stood at 34,442 while the RT-PCR figures were 14,627 in all, adding to 49,069.
According to the bulletin, out of the total number of 15,756 beds in COVID hospitals, 10,473 are vacant.