‘Will win this time as well’: Arvind Kejriwal confident Delhi will beat Covid-19 again

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s tweet on Sunday morning came a day after the national capital witnessed an unprecedented rise of nearly 25,000 new Covid-19 cases, with nearly every fourth sample testing positive for the viral disease.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday expressed confidence that the national capital would once again overcome the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), a day after the city-state witnessed a record rise in its infection tally, with nearly every fourth sample testing positive for the viral disease.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal (ANI File Photo)

“Entire Delhi is united in this battle against Covid-19. I’m confident that just like earlier, we will soon be victorious this time as well,” Kejriwal’s tweet, roughly translated from Hindi, read. The chief minister also attached a clipping of a headline from a Hindi newspaper, which in English roughly translates to “Delhi united against coronavirus, successful first day of weekend curfew.”

With Delhi witnessing an unprecedented rise in its daily cases, Kejriwal on Thursday announced a weekend curfew in the Capital. The 56-hour curfew, as announced by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor, came into effect at 10pm on Friday and is scheduled to end at 6am on Monday. The city is also observing a daily night curfew, from 10pm to 5am, which began with “immediate effect” within hours of announcement on April 10, and will go on till April 30.

Daily Covid-19 cases in Delhi crossed the 20,000-mark for the first time on Saturday, with 24,735 more people testing positive for the disease, according to a bulletin from the health department. The positive cases were from 99,230 samples tested for Covid-19, which led to a positivity rate of 24.56%, the city’s highest thus far. This means that of the samples tested in the 24 hours leading to Saturday, nearly every fourth sample returned a positive result.

Delhi’s infection tally currently stands at 827,998, of which 746,239 or 90.12% are recovered cases, the bulletin shows. Active cases and related deaths, meanwhile, are at 69,799 and 11,960 respectively, comprising 8.43% and 1.44% of the overall caseload. This week, Delhi has seen 19,486 new cases and 141 deaths on April 16; 16,699 and 112 on April 15; 17,282 and 104 on April 14; 13,468 and 81 on April 13; and 11,491 and 72 on April 12.

The situation, Kejriwal said on Saturday, “will be watched closely,” adding that the government will take whatever step is needed to save lives.