Switzerland Ambassador meets Kejriwal, Sisodia over Covid strategy

“During the meeting, ambassador Heckner praised the various steps taken by the Delhi government to deal with Covid-19 despite difficult circumstances," a press statement issued by the chief minister’s office said.

Switzerland’s Ambassador to India, Ralf Heckner, praised the Delhi government’s work in Covid-19 management, according to a press statement issued by the chief minister’s office, following a meeting between Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and Heckner on Tuesday.

Arvind Kejriwal and Ambassador Ralf Heckner also discussed the Delhi government’s initiatives to fight air pollution. (ANI)

“During the meeting, ambassador Heckner praised the various steps taken by the Delhi government to deal with Covid-19 despite difficult circumstances... He (Heckner) said that even under such difficult conditions, the Delhi government managed Covid-19 successfully,” said the statement.

According to the release, Kejriwal informed Heckner about the Delhi government’s strategies to manage hospital beds when Covid-19 cases peaked, launch of a mobile application for real-time information on bed availability across hospitals and his plans to launch a cloud-based health management system later this year.

Delhi, currently, is witnessing a resurgence in Covid-19 cases. On Tuesday, the Capital recorded 992 new cases, with a positivity rate of 2.70%, and four more deaths, according to the government’s health bulletin. In 2020, Delhi recorded three distinct phases of severe spikes in Covid-19 cases and at its worst, recorded 8,593 new cases on November 11.

Currently, 4,832 Covid-19 patients in Delhi are in home isolation.

The statement said, “The Delhi government adopted the method of home isolation to deal with Covid-19. Under this method, serious patients were admitted to the hospital, while under-treatment patients (with mild symptoms or no symptoms) were treated at their homes. The home isolation method was very successful and it was later adopted in other states of India and outside India.”

Kejriwal and Heckner also discussed the Delhi government’s initiatives to fight air pollution, including the government’s policy to endorse electric vehicles (EV) and collaborate with top institutes to set up centres capable of real-time analysis of the wide range of sources of air pollution in the city.

The statement said, “The Delhi government is also taking the support of IIT-Kanpur, IIT-Delhi and TERI.”

They also discussed the Delhi government’s plans to promote tourism, said the press statement.