No community transmission of COVID-19 in Delhi; city might see 5.5 lakh cases by July-end: Sisodia

PTI, Jun 9, 2020, 2:57 PM IST

New Delhi: Officials from the Centre say there is no community transmission of COVID-19 in Delhi, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia asserted on Tuesday, June 9 and estimated that there might be 5.5 lakh coronavirus cases in the city by July 31.

Delhi will need 80,000 beds by July end, he told reporters after a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA).

The meeting was chaired by Lt Governor Anil Baijal who is also the chairperson of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority.

“Officials from the Centre said at the meeting that there is no community transmission of COVID-19 virus in Delhi,” Sisodia told the media after the meeting.

“The lieutenant governor has refused to reconsider his decision to overrule the Delhi government’s order reserving state-run and private hospitals for Delhiites,” the deputy chief minister said.

He said that the national capital may record 44,000 COVID-19 cases by June 15 and it would need 6,600 beds in hospitals.

“By June 30, there would be one lakh cases of coronavirus in Delhi and we will need 15,000 beds. It is estimated that Delhi will record 2.15 lakh cases by July 15 and 33,000 beds would be required. There might be 5.5 lakh cases by July 31 and Delhi would need 80,000 beds,” Sisodia said.

“Based on the doubling rate, 5.5 lakh cases are expected to be reported in Delhi by July 31, he said.

He said that people living in Delhi also need beds during COVID-19 pandemic and in view of this, the Delhi Cabinet had recently taken the decision to reserve state-run and private hospitals for Delhiites.

“In the meeting, nobody had an answer on the availability of sufficient numbers of beds if COVID-19 cases continue to increase in the coming days in the national capital,” Sisodia said.

“Who will take responsibility if there are no beds? If people are coming from all over the country, beds available in Delhi will be occupied within eight or ten days.

“As the LG has refused to reconsider his decision, we will try to serve the people of country and Delhi as well. We will also try to expand medical facilities,” he added.

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said the source of infection is “not known” in nearly half of the fresh cases being reported.

Interacting with reporters, he also said that the Kejriwal government is making all the preparations to handle the huge rush of patients estimated by June end.

“Epidemiologically, community transmission is a third stage of the infection. In Delhi, of the new cases being reported, nearly half of the cases, the source of infection is not known,” he said.

On Monday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that LG’s order on hospitals has created a major problem and challenge for Delhiites.

The chief minister had said that providing treatment to people coming from all the over country was a big challenge during COVID-19 pandemic.

The Delhi government would try to make arrangements to provide treatment to all those coming from outside the national capital, Kejriwal had said.