COVID death rate in Delhi quite low: Kejriwal

New Delhi, May 18 (IANS) With just 160 deaths reported due to coronavirus in the national capital since the outbreak, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said when compared to other states in the country and the world, the death rate here is quite low.

Kejriwal said Delhi has had 10,054 cases until now, out of which 4,485 cases have recovered.

“This means 45 per cent of the people have recovered. Unfortunately, 160 people have lost their lives due to coronavirus, but if we compare the statistics to other states in India and abroad, the death rate is quite low,” he said.

Kejriwal said the coronavirus is not going to get over soon until a vaccine is obtained, and we have to learn to live with it.

“Lockdown is not a permanent solution and the Delhi government has used the lockdown time to prepare for coronavirus. When coronavirus first came to India, we were not prepared. We did not have enough testing kits, not enough hospital set ups, we were unaware of how to deal with the situation.”

Kejriwal said in the last 2 months, the Delhi government has prepared dedicated COVID hospitals, arranged beds, ventilators, testing, and PPE kits.

He said he announced the relaxations in the fourth edition of the lockdown as per the Centre’s guidelines, and that the lockdown is not a permanent solution for coronavirus and relaxations have to be announced to revive the economy.

“The fourth phase of the lockdown is starting. There has been a nationwide lockdown since the last 45 days because of coronavirus. People have dedicatedly followed the norms of the lockdown, have suffered because of coronavirus, and I am sure that we will together defeat coronavirus,” he said.

Kejriwal said that the Delhi government has to move towards opening the state’s economy.

–IANS

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