More than prepared to deal with coronavirus, says Kejriwal; cases cross 18K, deaths reach 416

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New Delhi, May 30 () Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Saturday asserted that his government is several steps ahead of the novel coronavirus and is more than prepared to deal with it, even as the total number of COVID-19 cases crossed the 18,000-mark and the death toll climbed to 416.

He also reiterated that there cannot be a permanent lockdown and focus needs to be on minimising the number of deaths even if cases rise.

In the past, Kejriwal had said people will have to learn to live with coronavirus.

"Main aapka mukhya mantri aapko yeh bharosa dilana chahata hoon ke aapki sarkar corona se chaar kadam aage chal rahi hai (I, as your chief minister, want to assure you that the government is several steps ahead of coronavirus" he said in an online media briefing on Saturday.

"I accept that there has been a surge in the number of cases. It is a matter of concern but there is no need to panic," Kejriwal said.

He said the government is making plenty of arrangements to deal with the outbreak. "We are more than prepared to tackle it."

According to a health bulletin, with 1,163 fresh infections, the total number of coronavirus cases reached 18,549. The death toll also rose to 416.

The previous daily high in fresh cases -- 1,106 -- was recorded on May 29.

Among the fresh cases include the medical director of the LNJP Hospital, and two other staff members of the COVID-dedicated facility. A senior technical supervisor with the same hospital also died of coronavirus, officials said.

Meanwhile, some more areas were declared as containment zones and their number rose to 122, authorities said.

According to a tally, Delhi now stands third after Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu in terms of the number of coronavirus cases in the country.

Kejriwal said the coronavirus cases went up by 8,500 over the past 15 days, but only 500 people needed to be admitted in hospitals while the rest are recovering at home.

The chief minister said he is concerned about keeping the death toll to the minimum and ensuring there are enough hospital beds for coronavirus patients.

"They (patients) should not struggle to get oxygen or ventilators. At present, 2,100 patients are in hospitals. We have arranged for enough beds and more are being arranged," he said.

As of now, there are a total of 6,600 beds and 4,500 of them are still unoccupied, he said, adding that by June the capacity will be ramped up to 9,500 beds.

"We are taking over a few hotels too. You need not worry," he told in the briefing.

On Friday, the Health Department declared three more Delhi government hospitals -- Deep Chand Bandhu Hospital, Satyawadi Raja Harishchandra Hospital and GTB Hospital -- as dedicated COVID-19 facilities.

Five more hotels will be attached with private hospitals and function as makeshift medical facilities to treat patients.

Kejriwal added that the government is also developing an app to give people information about the availability of beds in hospitals and the ones with ventilators. The app will be launched next week.

Kejriwal appealed to the people to not share "malicious" and "unverified content" on social media.

"Some people create, post, and share videos for petty and dirty politics. A video of bodies is being circulated since today morning, claiming that the video is of a Delhi government hospital.

"It (the video) was not of the Delhi government hospital. In a similar way, a video of low-quality food being served in some government hospital was circulated, claiming it was of Delhi government hospital which is not true."

He said politics has to be left behind in this fight and everyone has to work for the country together.

"This is not the time to do dirty politics," he said. GJS/SLB KND PR HMB TIR