Delhi recorded 954 cases on Monday, according to a health department bulletin. The bulletin said the number of tests conducted too was the lowest in July. It said 11,470 tests were conducted. On previous days, except for July 6 and 13, the number of tests ranged 19,000-22,000.
Meanwhile, AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria has said that Delhi appears to have hit the peak but cautioned against any laxity. Guleria said, “my feeling is that certain areas have hit their peak. Delhi seems to have done so because the cases have declined significantly. But certain areas are yet to reach their peak. Cases are increasing in certain states. They will reach the peak later,” he said.
According to the health ministry bulletin, the number of deaths from the coronavirus infection in Delhi has risen to 3,663 with 35 fresh fatalities, and the total number of cases reached to 1,23,747.
The active cases have declined steadily over the last week, bringing the figure down to 15,166 — the lowest in 44 days — while the recovery rate touched nearly 85 per cent.
This is for the first time since June 1 that less than 1,000 cases were recorded in a 24-hour span. For the last nine days, fresh cases were being reported in the range of 1,000-2,000.
Delhi had crossed the 1,000-mark in COVID-19 tally on April 11. On June 23, it reported the highest single-day spike of 3,947 till date. The number of containment zones in the city stands at 696.
As COVID-19 numbers appeared to be declining steadily, the AAP jumped to credit the “Kejriwal model” for the success. AAP’s Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh said, “Amid this pandemic, the Delhi government led by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has successfully fought this battle. Kejriwal led this battle from the front, Singh said, adding COVID warriors including doctors, nurses, sanitation workers and police officials were in this fight together. The Kejriwal model of fighting the COVID battle is now not only being discussed in our country but it is being discussed across the world, he said.
Sanjay Singh said the Centre needs to admit that community spread of the coronavirus is happening in the country and follow Delhi’s lead in containing the virus by ramping up testing “on a large scale”. Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are the biggest examples in this respect where testing is being carried out just in name only, Singh alleged.
The BJP, however, said the Centre brought the coronavirus situation under control after it had gone out of the Delhi government’s hand. Hitting back at Sanjay Singh, Delhi BJP General-Secretary Rajesh Bhatia said the AAP is “running away” from its responsibilities. “Now, they are saying there is community spread, if it is so what were they doing to stop it. The thing is COVID situation had gone out of Delhi government’ hand and was brought under control by Union Home Minister Amit Shah,” Bhatia said.