Congress, BJP lash out at AAP govt for rising COVID-19 cases in Delhi

The opposition BJP and Congress hit out at the AAP government in Delhi on Friday for a substantial rise in fresh COVID-19 cases and death toll due to the disease in the national capital, saying it lacked a clear strategy to deal with situation.

No immediate reaction was available either from the Delhi government or Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). 

The speed at which the number of coronavirus cases is rising in Delhi every day has brought the reality of the Arvind Kejriwal government's "imaginary" health system before the people, Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari said.

The city government on Friday said the COVID-19 death toll was 398 so far, including 69 fatalities in the last 34 days that were reported late by the hospitals concerned.

The number of fresh COVID-19 cases was 1,126, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Health Minister Satyendar Jain told a press briefing.

Tiwari questioned the government's advertisements in newspapers, saying, "It is clear that apart from spending crores on advertisements, the Kejriwal government has no further strategy to deal with the coronavirus."

At a press conference, BJP MLAs also raised the issue of the growing number of coronavirus cases and deaths due to it. They said the patients should have been treated for free in the private hospitals that have come up on land provided by the Delhi government.

"There are 62 private hospitals in Delhi, which have been built by taking land from the government for free or at subsidised rates. There was an agreement to reserve 25 per cent of the beds for free treatment of 25 per cent patients of the OPD," Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said.

The MLAs asked the Delhi government to tell people how many COVID-19 patients were treated for free at these private hospitals till now. 

Delhi Congress chief Anil Kumar said it was shocking that Delhi has jumped to the third position in terms of number of coronavirus cases in the country.

"Delhi has been witnessing sharp rises in COVID-19 cases with the last two days reporting over 1,000 new cases each," he said.

Kumar said his party has been maintaining that the death toll announced by the Kejriwal government is not true, which has been proved correct as the figure reported up to Friday is 398 with the rider that 69 cases are old.

"The Kejriwal government has been without any proper strategy to contain the pandemic," the Congress leader said.