INDIA’s HEART LOCKED FOR SIX DAYS
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today announces a six-day lockdown in Delhi from 10 pm tonight to 5 am next Monday, as rising Covid cases had severely affected the its health system .
Delhi is the worst-hit city in India with 25,500 fresh cases on Sunday and almost one-third of those tested returning positive. In the last 24 hours, the number of cases remains high despite a dip — 23,500.
“Delhi’s health system is at a breaking point. I will not say it has collapsed but the Covid situation is pretty critical,” Arvind Kejriwal said in a televised address, asserting that the lockdown decision was not an easy one.
“I have always been against a lockdown. I believe the lockdown will not finish the virus, but it will reduce the transmission rate. It will give us time to boost our infrastructure. We will use this week-long lockdown to improve our healthcare,” he added.
Delhi is facing acute shortages of hospital beds, medical oxygen supplies and key medicines such as the anti-viral Remdesivir, said Kejriwal.
“If we don’t enforce a lockdown now, Delhi could be staring at a “bigger disaster,” he explained.
April 19,2021
