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62% of Delhi’s 293 Covid-19 cases now linked to Jamaat
Out of the 2,346 people evacuated from the Tablighi Jamaat headquarters in Nizamuddin, 536 are in the hospital as they showed Covid-19 symptoms, according to the government.
At least 182 (62%) of the 293 coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases in Delhi were linked to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation that took place in Nizamuddin early in March, the Delhi government said on Thursday, while maintaining that the outbreak had not entered the community transmission phase in the national capital.
Between Wednesday and Thursday, Delhi reported 141 new Covid-19 cases.
Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, in a digital news briefing on Thursday, said the number of deaths caused by the disease in Delhi increased to four on Thursday, up from two a day earlier. The two new deaths were traced to Nizamuddin Markaz, an emerging hot spot of infections discovered late in March.
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Kejriwal also announced that a one-time compensation scheme of Rs 5,000 for Delhi’s construction workers will be extended to cover those operating public service vehicles such as auto-rickshaws, taxis and e-rickshaws.
“We currently have 208 active coronavirus patients in various hospitals, out of which one is still on ventilator and five are on oxygen. The remaining 202 are stable,” Kejriwal said.
Out of the 2,346 people evacuated from the Tablighi Jamaat headquarters in Nizamuddin, 536 are in the hospital as they showed Covid-19 symptoms, according to the government. The remaining people have been taken to seven government quarantine centres, including one in Tughlakabad Railway colony and DDA flats in Bakkarwala, Narela and Sultanpuri.
The chief minister reiterated that the number of cases could increase further as the government planned to begin testing even those Markaz evacuees who were under government quarantine.
“The patients who were brought out from the Markaz are serious. So, we will conduct tests on each of the 2,346 persons evacuated from there. Some of them could be corona positive as more results arrive in a day or two. The Delhi tally will then shoot up,” Kejriwal said.
He said it was vital that everyone followed the 21-day national lockdown to control the spread of the disease that has killed at 51,000 people worldwide.
Kejriwal narrated a tale from Mahabharata in which Yudhishthir tells Vidur that neither the strongest nor the fastest would survive a forest fire and only those animals that live in burrows would see themselves through the fire. “This coronavirus is like a forest fire. Those who stay home will remain healthy,” Kejriwal said.
Giving the latest figures of those under quarantine, he said 2,943 people were in the government’s quarantine facilities out of which 1,133 were those who came from abroad and 1,810 were cases linked to the Markaz. By late Thursday evening, the count of those in government quarantine touched 3,075.
The chief minister announced that the Delhi government will give a one-time compensation of Rs 5,000 to those who have a public service vehicle (PSV) registered in Delhi. The decision is likely to benefit more than 250,000 owners of PSVs such as auto-rickshaws (nearly 95,000), e-rickshaws (around 85,000), taxis (nearly 75,000) and Gramin Sewas (over 6,100).
“Many auto, e-rickshaw and taxi drivers have complained that their income has stopped as they cannot operate their vehicles due to the lockdown. My government has decided to give them Rs 5,000 each so they do not have to sleep hungry. Implementing this scheme will take about 10 days since we are still devising the system through which the money will be disbursed. We are thinking of direct bank transfers, but the problem is that we do not have the account details of many of them,” the chief minister said.
On March 24, the Delhi government said it would give Rs 5,000 to all registered construction workers in the city. On Wednesday, the government released Rs 5,000 to 32,358 registered workers, while the process for 9,000 more was underway.
Auto and taxi unions in the city welcomed the move and urged the government to ensure that the benefits were given to the right people. “We had been demanding for some kind of relief ever since the Delhi government announced the Capital’s lockdown on March 22. Finally, it has been addressed today. But, we request the government to ensure the money goes only to those who are in real need of it. For example, there are rich people who own multiple auto-rickshaws and give it to drivers on rent. So, I hope a system is devised where the benefit reaches the driver,” said Santosh Pandey, the president of Aapka Apna Auto Taxi Union, which is registered with the state government.
