Delhi will have 5.5 lakh C-19 cases by July 31
NEW DELHI: Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia asserted on Tuesday, and estimated that there might be 5.5 lakh corona virus cases in the city by July 31 based on the current doubling rate of the infection he said.
By June 15 there will be 44,000 cases, one lakh cases by 30 June and 2.25 lakh cases by July 15.Predicting a huge demand for hospital beds a day after his government’s decision to reserve beds for residents was cancelled by the Lieutenant Governor. COVID-19 cases are doubling every 12-13 days in Delhi, Mr Sisodia said after a meeting today with Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and top central officials.
Mr Sisodia said he had urged the Lieutenant Governor to reconsider his move to strike down the Delhi Government’s order reserving hospitals except for those run by the centre for the city’s residents. Mr Baijal refused to reconsider his decision and it was not taken up in the meeting, he said.
This statement comes two days after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, in a virtual press conference, said there are about 20,000 beds available in Delhi at present. He said 10,000 of these beds are in hospitals run by the Delhi government, while an equal number are available at hospitals run by the central government in Delhi.
Assessing a steep curve for Delhi’s virus cases in the coming weeks, Mr Sisodia said 50 per cent of all beds in Delhi were generally occupied by those who came for treatment from outside. “Now we see that there might be a situation that 80,000 beds would be needed by end of July – that too only for residents of Delhi, not outsiders… so where will this come from? What is being done about it,” the Deputy Chief Minister questioned.
We brought up this scenario during today’s meeting but nothing was discussed. According to central officials, Delhi was not in the community transmission stage. His colleague Satyendra Jain, city Health Minister, said half the virus cases in Delhi could not be traced to any source. Asked whether this could be seen as community transmission, Mr Jain said: “Not if the centre doesn’t declare it.”
In its June 9 bulletin on Covid-19, the Union health ministry said Delhi has a total of 29,943 cases. The scale at which cases are rising in Delhi can be understood from the fact that between June 1 and June 9, nearly 10,000 cases were added to Delhi’s tally.
(With Agency Inputs ).
