Unlock 1: Delhi to open borders, malls, religious places from tomorrow
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday announced that will open borders across Delhi, including all restaurants, malls and religious places from Monday. Kejriwal had called a high-level meeting on Saturday to discuss the remaining parameters of unlocking Delhi under the Centre’s phase-1 guidelines and preparedness for handling Covid-19 patients.
"Delhi govt will be opening malls, restaurants and religious places in accordance with Centre's guidelines," said addressing media Kejriwal on Sunday.
Arvind Kejriwal further said, "I want to make a special request to senior citizens, the lockdown is more important for you please try to keep your interactions to a minimum," Deaths among the elderly are highest, he added.
Delhi is likely to see at least 1 lakh cases of coronavirus by end of this month (June) as per a projection made by a 5-member committee formed by Delhi government. Speaking on the projection over expected cases of COVID-19 in Delhi in the coming days, Dr Mahesh Verma, chairman of the committee said, "We have studied the trends of other cities like Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Chennai. Our calculations project more than one lakh cases in the national capital by the end of June. We have submitted our report to the government recommending them to make an additional facility of 15,000 beds. We want that no patient should suffer. We are getting prepared to combat the virus."
At present, the national capital has 26,334 confirmed cases, 15,311 active cases 10,315 recovered and 708 deaths. Delhi is the third-worst hit state in terms of having the maximum number of coronavirus cases after Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
Delhi Medical Association slams Kejriwal for warning doctors
The Delhi Medical Association on Sunday slammed Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for warning and threatening the hospitals about the COVID-19 patients' admissions and tests. It also condemned the move to lodge FIR against private COVID facility, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi.
In a press statement, the association said 15,000 members and all branches of the DMA strongly condemn such behaviour by the Delhi Government and the way Delhi Chief Minister is warning the doctors and threatening the hospitals.
"Doctors who are serving the people of Delhi tirelessly for the last two months in this pandemic crisis risking their lives feel insulted by the way they are being treated," said the association.
It also added, "Hospitals are the backbone of healthcare and are serving the patients, Covid or non Covid. They are being penalized and the government instead of praising their efforts is issuing new dictates ('farman') daily. Sir Ganga Ram hospital and its doctors, who have saved lakhs of lives in the last decades, are being penalised and threatened. The FIR on Sir Ganga Ram Hospital is highly condemnable and demoralizing for the whole medical fraternity."
