At a critical moment when experts say the capital is going through the third wave of COVID-19
Perhaps the deadliest yet, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain speaks to CNN-News18 about the surge in cases, actions taken by his government, attacks from the opposition and criticism from the courts.
CNN News18: Sir, I was talking about the summit being over. What is the positivity rate today and is there any indication that things could be looking up?
Satyendar Jain: On November 7th, the positivity rate in Delhi was 15.26%. It was more than 15%. It was continually increasing. On November 1 it was 10.91% and in 7 days it crossed 15%. There was an apprehension, even among us, that the positivity rate would cross between 20 and 25%. In June it was 37%. It was a great fear that the positivity rate would reach 20, 25 or 30% and then it would have been a great challenge.
However, it is a source of great satisfaction that the positivity rate has started to decline as of November 7. And the decline has been continuous. Now, it has decreased to less than 11% and has continued to decline.
It’s not like all of a sudden one day it slowed down and skyrocketed the next day. After the 7th, it has been slowly declining in a downtrend.
On the 10th, we had 8,953 cases. After that, the number of cases has also started to decrease.
CNN News 18: In Delhi, door-to-door survey will start today, contact tracing will be expanded. What do you intend to achieve with this?
Satyendar Jain: Contact tracing has always happened. Now, in the containment zones, because those areas have been contained, to verify if there are more positive cases, contact tracing will be carried out.
CNN News18: How many teams will be formed? What is the OBJETIVE?
Satyendar Jain: The aim is to check if there are more positive cases in the containment zones that have escaped our scrutiny.
CNN News 18: During the last 8 to 9 days in Delhi, we have seen approximately 100 people lose their lives. This had not happened before in Delhi. What is the reason and when can we expect the situation to improve?
Satyendar Jain: There is always a delay when we talk about deaths. For example, when cases increase, there will be a delay of at least 10-12 days for deaths for that period to be reported. Similarly, when the cases begin to decline, there is also a 10-12 day delay. Now that the cases have started to decline, we will slowly begin to see their impact.
CNN News 18: What is the main reason for mortality? Delhi has never seen such high figures for deaths per day.
Satyendar Jain: It’s not about numbers per day. Look at the percentage. In June we had a 3.5% mortality rate which is now between 1% and 1.5%. Today, Delhi’s death rate is 1.57%, which is close to the national average. At one point, Delhi’s death rate was twice the national average. Now, slowly, the death rate will also start to drop.
CNN News 18: In the future, will there be a shortage of ICU beds? Is that an apprehension in the government?
Satyendar Jain: Yesterday, we approved orders to ensure that 250 more ICU beds were available in 40 private hospitals. The central government has also promised 750 ICU beds and they will soon be available as well. The Delhi government has also approved orders to add 650 more ICU beds. With these collective steps, there should be no problem with the ICU beds.
CNN News18: Congress opposes steep increase in fines for not wearing masks. Congress says the amount of the challan must be collected from the AAP and CM MLAs.
Satyendar Jain: Most people wear masks. Some people feel that 500 rupees is not too much to pay and they are willing to pay that. This is the reason why the fine has been increased to 2,000 rupees so that no one feels that they can escape by paying 500 rupees. Everyone should wear masks. If no one pays a fine, it is the best possible situation. It is regrettable that millions of rupees are being collected in the form of challans. This means that many thousands do not wear masks. When we increased the challan in traffic, there was a decrease in violations. I feel that increasing the fine will lead to a drop in infractions.
CNN News 18: How do you see the opposition from the Congress party?
Satyendar Jain: They are opposed just for the sake of it. There is no logic in this. I did not find a single aam aadmi who said that we have taken a wrong step by increasing the amount of challan from Rs 500 to Rs 2000. Everyone has welcomed this decision. 99% wear masks and when they comply with the rules, they want others to wear masks as well so as not to take the risk of others. We have increased the fine so that 1%, 0.5% or 0.25% who do not follow the rules begin to abide by them.
CNN News 18: The higher court has said that you have to step in every time, that it has to wake you up, and that the decisions you made now could have been made earlier. How would you answer? Were there lapses in containing the disease?
Satyendar Jain: I would not like to comment on what the court has said.
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