Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Saturday reassured the people of Delhi that his government is several steps ahead of the novel coronavirus and is more than prepared to deal with it. He also reiterated there cannot be a permanent lockdown and focus needs to be on minimising the number of deaths even if cases rise.
"I, as your chief minister, want to assure you that the government is several steps ahead of the coronavirus," he said in an online briefing. "I accept there has been a surge in the number of cases. It is a matter of concern but there is no need to panic."
Kejriwal said the government is making plenty of arrangements to deal with the outbreak, adding, "We are more than prepared to tackle it."
The total number of coronavirus cases stood at 17,386 as on Friday while there were 398 fatalities.
Kejriwal said the cases coronavirus went up by 8,500 over the past 15 days, but only 500 people needed to be admitted in hospitals while the rest are recovering at home.
The chief minister said he is concerned about keeping the death toll to the minimum and ensuring there are enough hospital beds for coronavirus patients.
"They (patients) should not struggle to get oxygen or ventilators. At present, 2,100 patients are in hospitals. We have arranged for enough beds and more are being arranged," he said.
As of now there are a total of 6,600 beds and 4,500 of them are still unoccupied, he said, adding by June the capacity will be ramped up to 9,500 beds. "We are taking over a few hotels too. You need not worry," he added.
On Friday, the Health Department declared three more Delhi government hospitals -- Deep Chand Bandhu Hospital, Satyawadi Raja Harishchandra Hospital and GTB Hospital -- as dedicated COVID-19 facilities. Five more hotels will be attached with private hospitals and function as makeshift medical facilities to treat patients.
Kejriwal added the government is also developing an app to give people information about the availability of beds in hospitals and the ones with ventilators. The app will be launched next week.
Referring to allegedly fake videos on the social media on condition of Delhi government hospitals and other COVID-19 facilities being circulated, he said: "We have to leave politics behind. The country is going through a bad time."
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