Delhi records 2,442 fresh Covid-19 cases, tally rises to 89,802 on July 1

As Delhi's coronavirus count inched towards 90,000, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said the COVID-19 situation has been brought under control for now but cautioned people against any lapse in social and personal behaviour that may again lead to a rise in cases.

The city recorded 2,422 fresh coronavirus cases taking the tally to 89,802. Sixty-one fresh deaths were recorded pushing the toll to 2,803.

Mahesh Verma, the head of a Delhi government committee tasked with strengthening the preparedness of hospitals to battle coronavirus said the city's COVID-19 tally may not reach 5.5 lakh cases by July end as was estimated, but one needs to see how the virus behaves during the monsoon.

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Last month, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had estimated that the city's coronavirus count could reach a lakh by June end and 5.5 lakh by July end.

Addressing an online media briefing, Kejriwal said the situation is not "terrible" as predicted a month ago, asserting that at present, the number of active coronavirus cases has been decreasing instead of increasing.

He said the situation has been brought under control with the "combined efforts" of the Delhi government, the Centre and other organisations.

"In Delhi, the number of people recovering from coronavirus is also increasing. Similarly, the number of deaths is decreasing... at present, the COVID-19 situation is not as terrible as it was earlier. This is the result of combined efforts of all," Kejriwal said.

He also said the recovery rate a month ago was around 38 per cent, but it is now 67 per cent, adding that out of a total of 87,000 cases, 58,000 people have so far recovered.

He said the central government's website had projected a total of one lakh COVID-19 cases and of these, 60,000 active cases by June 30, but the number of active cases is currently around 26,000.

"After this projection, we did not sit idle and started approaching all those who could help us in dealing with the situation. We approached hotels, banquet halls, Centre, social and religious organisations for help.

"Where we did not get help, we pleaded before the people to save Delhi (Jahan madad nahi mili wahan unke per pakade)," he said.

As June ended, the coronavirus count of the city stood at 87,360, accounting 75 per cent of the total coronavirus cases in the national capital.

According to the data, 66,526 fresh coronavirus cases were reported from June 1 to June 30.

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The silver lining, however, is that for the fifth consecutive day, the city's daily addition of the cases is in the range of 2,000. In June, the daily figures had almost touched 4,000.

Verma, who is part of a five-member committee that was constituted by the Delhi government last month for healthcare infrastructure augmentation and strengthening of overall preparedness of hospitals to battle COVID-19, said before making a new forecast, the number of cases should be monitored over the next couple of days.

"It's only three-four days since there has been a decline. We have to keep a watch over the numbers for another couple of days and then only we can forecast. We were expecting almost one lakh cases by the end of June but we have added about 65,000 cases. A new pattern is emerging," he said.

Verma, who is also the vice-chancellor of Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, said due to the surge, everyone became more proactive and there was increased testing, which contributed to the general management of cases.

For the last few days, the Centre has been overseeing Delhi's preparations. Recently, Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced a number of steps, including house-to-house survey, ramping up testing and bed capacity, to arrest the spread of coronavirus.

Kejriwal said there were 8,500 beds in hospitals one month back, but the bed capacity has now reached around 15,000.

"Earlier, when we conducted COVID-19 test on 100 people, 31 came positive. Now, only 13 cases are coming positive on testing of 100 people. All these things show that the situation is now under control," he said.

Kejriwal, however, asked people not to pay attention to experts' views on social media that the peak of COVID-19 has gone in Delhi, and requested citizens to wear masks, wash hands and maintain social-distancing norms instead.

"There should not be any lapse. After much effort, we have come out of the situation that was a month ago. We will continue our team work. There is a proverb - 'Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst'. We will continue our preparations to deal with any situation," he said.

Meanwhile, a Delhi government panel has recommended roping in postgraduate students, pooling of resources of hospitals and cash incentives to address the problem of shortage of staff in hospitals amid a surge in coronavirus cases, sources said.

The two-member committee, comprising Verma and Dr BL Sherwal, director, Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital (RGSSH), was formed last week.

The panel submitted its recommendations to the government and they were forwarded to the Cabinet, the sources said.