Expressing concern about the increase in Covid-19 cases in the national capital, Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Friday that his government plans to take action in the next week to address the problem. He also said the situation is expected to be brought under control in another seven to ten days.
However, he did not elaborate on the options the government is considering to control the continued increase in recorded cases and deaths. The CM also said that contamination is a factor contributing to the increase in cases of coronavirus disease.
Senior government officials said the government has asked the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), which is chaired by Deputy Governor Anil Baijal, to convene a meeting on Tuesday to discuss the course of action.
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“The Covid-19 situation in Delhi is worrying. Next week, we’ll take a few more steps to address it. The situation should be under control in 7-10 days, ”Kejriwal told a video news conference.
On Thursday, Delhi recorded 7,053 new Covid-19 cases and 104 deaths in 24 hours, the highest deaths in a single day so far. So far, 467,028 people in the capital have been diagnosed as Covid-19 positive, of which 416,580 have recovered and 7,332 have died.
Dr Lalit Kant, former head of epidemiology and communicable diseases at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), said: “Based on current trends, it appears that cases may increase for at least another three weeks unless the government places restrictions on non-essential activities, which can affect market hours, meeting sizes, etc. “
At the press conference on Friday, Kejriwal shared the results of an experiment with a biodecomponent, developed by the Pusa Institute, which can be used as an alternative for burning crop stubble. Last month, he had said that the bio-decomposer was spread over 2,000 acres of farmland in Delhi and the results of the experiment, based on samples collected from 24 villages, showed that 70% -95% of total crop stubble was had decomposed.
“Now we have a solution. I urge other states, the central government and the Supreme Court to take note of this. The Delhi government will submit a petition along with this report to the central government’s air quality commission, urging them to issue instructions to states to use the biodecomposer, ”Kejriwal said, adding that air pollution in Delhi was contributing to the increase in Covid 19 cases.
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