Arvind Kejriwal/FILE
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said that the coronavirus cases in the national capital were on the rise due to doubled testing. He said that the government has taken several steps to reduce deaths due to the virus. The chief minister also ruled out any shortage of hospital beds for COVID-19 patients and said that the situation was under control in Delhi.
"There is no shortage of hospital beds for COVID-19 patients in Delhi. Out of 14,000 beds, only 5,000 are occupied," Kejriwal told reporters. He further said that there was no need to panic as the situation was under control.
Delhi recorded 2,914 fresh COVID-19 cases on Friday, the highest single-day spike here in 69 days, as the tally mounted to over 1.85 lakh, while a senior official claimed that there was no chance of another lockdown as it "wasn't an alarming surge".
This is the fourth successive day in September when over 2,000 new COVID-19 cases have been reported in a day. Also, over 36,000 tests were conducted on Friday.
A senior Delhi government official when asked about the spiralling number of COVID-29 cases, and whether there could be another lockdown, however, said, cases have increased as testing has been ramped up, "so, it is not that cases are rising alarmingly, and hence there is no chance of going back to lockdown".
(With PTI inputs)
