'No Lockdown Again': Delhi Health Minister Says Third Wave Of Covid-19 Has Passed Its Peak

Meanwhile dismissing the speculations, Satyendar Jain made it clear that no lockdown will be imposed in the national capital in the wake of third wave of Coronavirus.

(Image: PTI)

New Delhi: A day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah called for an urgent meeting to take stock of Coronavirus situation in the national capital, Delhi's Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Monday said that the third wave of the contagion has passed its peak in the city. Earlier this month, CM Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government declared the rapid surge in number of Covid-19 cases as 'third wave' in the national capital. As per Sunday data shared by the Delhi government, 3,235 fresh COVID-19 cases were recorded in the national capital, the lowest since October 26, taking the infection tally in the national capital to over 4.85 lakh, while the positivity rate increased to 15.33 per cent. Meanwhile dismissing the speculations, Jain made it clear that no lockdown will be imposed in the national capital in the wake of third wave of Coronavirus. "There will be no reimposition of lockdown in Delhi. I don't think it will be an effective step now, wearing of masks by everyone will be more beneficial," ANI quoted Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain as saying.

The third wave of COVID-19 has passed its peak in #Delhi: Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain https://t.co/zwxY7p54Ho

— ANI (@ANI) November 16, 2020

Centre on Sunday announced a slew of steps including making available 300 additional ICU beds, double the number of dailyPCR tests and a house-to-house survey in the entire national capital. Amit Shah also said some of the hospitals under the municipal corporations of Delhi will be converted into dedicated COVID hospitals. Doctors and paramedics of paramilitary forces will be flown in to be deployed in the national capital to deal with the shortage of manpower. The decisions were taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Shah and attended by Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan among others. This is the second major intervention by Shah, who had stepped in and announced several steps in June to check the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the national capital after criticism in different quarters of the Delhi government's handling of the crisis. In a series of tweets in Hindi, Shah said daily PCR tests in Delhi will be doubled and the capacity of the testing laboratories will be enhanced. He said mobile testing vans of the Union Health Ministry and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) will be deployed in the areas where the COVID-19 threat is high. Currently, around 18,000 to 19,000PCR tests are conducted daily in Delhi. As on date, there are 16,641 Covid-19 beds out of which the Delhi government hospitals has 5451, Centre has 3,721 and the remaining are private hospitals.