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Don’t let your guard down, even if Covid-19 pandemic wanes: Delhi LG tells Kejriwal government
The remarks were made during a meeting to review the management of Covid-19 situation in the national capital along with chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, deputy CM Manish Sisodia and other government officials.
The Lieutenant Governor (L-G) of Delhi Anil Baijal on Wednesday said that the Delhi government should not let its guard down despite the improving Covid-19 situation in the national capital. He also stressed that measures and preparedness to deal with any eventuality should be fully undertaken.
The remarks were made during a meeting to review the management of Covid-19 situation in the national capital along with chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, deputy CM Manish Sisodia and other government officials such as the commissioners of Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and senior officials from the Delhi Police, a statement from the LG’s office confirmed.
“It was felt that a regular monitoring and status update of distribution of free ration and money disbursal to labourers under the schemes announced at the beginning of the lockdown will ensure their effective delivery to the beneficiaries in need,” the statement said.
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He also asked the government to ensure that distributors and retailers of essential drugs and equipment related to fighting the Covid-19 are made to mandatorily display their stocks and prices.
During the meeting, the Baijal also said that the number of Covid-19 tests, especially the RT-PCR tests, carried out in the city should not fall. He also highlighted that due to the existing lockdown, the number of Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) carried out in Delhi has “naturally gone down.”
Briefing on other measures, the L-G urged the government to ensure the availability of drugs to treat the emerging black fungus (Mucormycosis) disease. He also asked the state government to take necessary steps for the availability of the Defence Research and Development Organisation’s new Covid-19 drug for patients in need.
He also instructed the officials to formulate “monitorable and compressed timelines” for establishing oxygen plants in hospitals and other related infrastructure to deal with similar situations in the future.
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Meanwhile, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted that a special task force would be created in Delhi to protect children from the third wave of Covid-19. “If the third wave of Corona comes, then we have to be prepared in advance to fight it, today in a meeting with the officials, took some important decisions- 1. To create special task force to protect children from the third wave. 2. Adequate beds, oxygen and better management of essential medicines,” he tweeted.
Delhi, which has been battered in the ongoing second wave of the pandemic, has been witnessing a declining trend in its daily new infections. On Monday, the national capital reported 4,482 new cases of the coronavirus infection and 265 related fatalities. The positivity rate has significantly dropped to 6.89% from 8.42% on Monday, when the city had logged 4,524 cases, the lowest since April 5. So far, 1,402,873 people have tested positive and 22,111 patients have succumbed to the disease in Delhi.