Every fifth Covid-19 death in India takes place in Delhi: Congress leader Ajay Maken

Delhi has been witnessing a spike in the number of Covid-19 cases just as the National Centre for Disease Control had stated in October and there has been a corresponding increase in the number of deaths too. According to statistics, every fifth Covid-19 death in India takes place in Delhi, stated Ajay Maken, general secretary of the Congress, in a press conference on Tuesday.

As of November 17, Delhi ranks topmost with 459 deaths per 10 lakh population and 29,140 cases per 10 lakh population. The population in the national capital, as per the 2011 census, is 1.68 crore. It is followed by Maharashtra which has 418 deaths per million population, but the population in the state is 11.23 crore. Rajasthan, which has a population of 6.86 crore, has had only 30 deaths per 10 lakh population.

“The Delhi government and the Union Home Ministry have been caught napping. Both of them are equally responsible for the deteriorating Covid-19 situation in the capital. The government resorts to knee-jerk reactions and public appeals without doing anything constructive. The government has only been releasing advertisements. Public safety and health should be kept in mind and not just revenue. Reducing the fatality rates must be topmost on the mind of the government,” added Maken.

Earlier in the day, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal stated that he was still mulling about shutting down markets if the number of Covid-19 cases continue to increase. He said he would be sending the proposal regarding this to the Central government. He added that another proposal had been sent to Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal to roll back the decision to allow a gathering of 200 people at marriage ceremonies and restrict it to 50.

“The Delhi CM’s statement that certain markets would be shut down is an example of knee-jerk reactions taken by this government. There can be nothing worse than this. Selective lockdown will not work. Markets become hotspots because a large number of people congregate there. When you identify certain markets as hotspots and shut them, you are spreading the disease because people will then go to other markets which are open. This is not an odd-even scheme,” Maken said. He advocated for a complete lockdown, if a lockdown was the government’s plan.

Kejriwal underscored that the Delhi government, the Centre and all the agencies claimed to be making ‘double efforts’ to control Covid-19 in the Capital. However, the Chief Minister did not outline what these ‘double efforts’ were. He then appealed to the citizens of Delhi to wear masks and follow social distancing norms. The appeal has come three days after Diwali, after his government had organised a massive prayer meet complete with dancers and musicians at the Akshardham Temple.

In October, the National Centre for Disease Control had released a study, which stated that there would be 15,000 Covid-19 cases daily in Delhi. “What has the government done even after knowing about it? The report stated that 20% of 15,000 people in Delhi will require hospitalisation daily. The Delhi dashboard for ICU beds states that there are only 603 beds available. This means there is availability only for one day. What will happen once the cases touch 15,000?” questioned Maken.

Both the state and the Centre had stated that 1 lakh tests would be done daily in Delhi. The Centre on Sunday had announced making available 300 additional ICU beds and a house-to-house survey in the national Capital.

“Union Home Minister Amit Shah and CM Kejriwal need to work to multiply the number of ICU beds in Delhi. The government should have spent the Rs 32 crore, which was used for advertisements on the Diwali bash or puja, on ramping up the ICU beds,” added Maken.

In June 2020, Maken had moved National Human Rights Commission to direct the Delhi government to reserve 70% of the hospital beds for Covid-19 patients. The Supreme Court, on November 10, declined the Delhi government’s appeal to lift the Delhi High Court’s directive to private hospitals to reserve 80% of their Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds for Covid-19 patients. The government stated that it had only instructed 33 hospitals to reserve 80% ICU/HDU beds for COVID-19 patients owing to the rising graph of infections.