Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today sought to link the fight against COVID-19 to the strife with China at the Line of Control, saying the nation was engaged in two wars against the neighbouring country, one against the virus sent by it and the other at the border.
“The country is fighting two wars against China, one against the virus sent by China and the other at the border. Our doctors and nurses are engaged in the war against the virus. At the border, it is our soldiers who are fighting off the Chinese threat,” Kejriwal said in a digital press conference.
The chief minister emphasised that there should be no partisan politics on these two issues.
These remarks assume significance in the backdrop of the tussle between the Centre and the Delhi government with regard to controlling the spread of COVID-19 in the capital, and in this backdrop, the Centre's decision to not invite Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's all party meeting on the developments at the LAC in Ladakh.
“The Central government has offered us cooperation in fighting COVID-19, and we are together meeting the challenge. Now is not a time to fight. If we fight, Corona will win. If we fight together, we can defeat Corona,” Kejriwal said.
As the number of COVID-19 cases reported on a daily basis surge in the capital, Kejriwal said that over the last one week, the number of active cases has gone up by only around a thousand. He said that there were around 25,000 active cases in the capital at the moment, of which around 6000 were in hospital and around 12,000 in home isolation.
“The figures show that as many people are recovering as are falling ill. So things appear to be stabilising,” he said.
Kejriwal said that while 5300 COVID beds were occupied on June 12, as on today, 6200 beds are occupied. “So, in ten days, while we got around 23,000 new patients, 900 more beds are occupied. This shows that as many people are being discharged as are getting admitted. It also shows that amongst the new cases, the number of serious cases is very less, and there are more mild or asymptomatic cases,” he said.
The chief minister highlighted the increase in testing figures, saying around 18,000 samples were being tested on a daily basis now compared to the around 5000 earlier. He said that rapid antigen tests were also been carried out with the help of the Central government.
“Some labs had deviated from norms and we took action against them. Negative samples were shown as positive. We have strictly told the labs to do the job properly and work to their maximum capacity,” he said.
With regard to people who are in home isolation, he said every such patient will be given an oxy pulse meter to check their oxygen levels, which can be returned to the government upon recovery. He said oxygen concentrators will be made available in every district to be supplied immediately to a patient in home isolation in case a need arises.
