FILE
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has called a meeting to take stock of COVID-19 situation in Delhi today. The meeting, to be attended by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at North Block, comes amid a sudden spike in coronavirus infections in the national capital. Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan and Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal will remain present at the meeting.
Earlier this week, Kejriwal had requested Harsh Vardhan to augment the bed capacity in the central government-run hospitals in Delhi, in view of revised projections of up to 15,000 COVID-19 cases per day in the coming weeks. In a letter to Vardhan, he had cited a shortfall of around 4,900 beds in hospitals and sought his direction to the hospitals run by the central government in Delhi to provide at least 1,092 additional beds, including 300 ICU beds, with the required medical staff.
On Friday, Kejriwal said the COVID-19 situation in the national capital should come under control in seven to 10 days. Terming pollution as the "biggest reason" behind the spike in COVID-19 cases in Delhi, the chief minister said the situation was under control in the city till October 20. "COVID-19 cases have been increasing for the last few days. I am also concerned about it. We have been taking all appropriate measures to control it. We are considering taking more steps next week. I think the situation should come under control in seven to 10 days and the cases should start decreasing," he said at a press conference.
The national capital recorded 7,340 COVID-19 cases in a day taking the infection tally to over 4.82 lakh on Saturday, while 96 more fatalities during the same period pushed the death toll in the city to 7,519. These fresh cases were detected from 49,645 tests, including 19,635 RT-PCR ones and 30,010 by rapid antigen tests, conducted the previous day. The positivity rate in the city was 14.78 per cent amid festivities and rising pollution. The highest single-day spike of 8,593 cases was recorded on Wednesday and 85 fatalities were recorded that day.
