WEB DESK
Even as the national capital currently battling its third wave of the Coronavirus infection, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal today said that the Covid-19 positivity rate in the capital had dipped by 5% in as many days and attributed the decline to a number of innovations that his government had adopted in the fight against the viral infection.
“Pollution is also exacerbating the recent surge in Covid-19 cases and the number of deaths too has increased steeply due to pollution caused by stubble burning in other states. Delhi has significantly reduced its own pollution levels, but we cannot control pollution which is spreading from other north Indian states,” said Kejriwal while participating in the 18th edition of the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit (HTLS) in conversation with HT’s Executive Editor Kunal Pradhan.
On a more optimistic note, Kejriwal indicated that the Covid-19 positivity rate in the national capital was 15% at the beginning of this month amid very high pollution levels. “In the last few days, the positivity rate has dropped from 15% to 13% on November 17 and today on November 20, it is at 10.5%. So the positivity rate in Delhi has dropped by 5% in five days. This has given us hope that we may perhaps be past the peak of the third wave of infection that the city has been reeling under,” the Delhi chief minister said.
“Compared to other global cities like New York which have seen a massive spike in Covid-19 infections, Delhi has not collapsed in the face of a huge public health crisis. In Delhi, you will not find people lying in corridors in hospitals dedicated to treating Covid-19 patients since we have been able to arrange the requisite number of beds,” Kejriwal said.