New Delhi, Mar 31 (Representative) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday chaired a high-level meeting to review the Covid-19 preparations of the government and reassured the people that the city government is fully prepared to tackle the virus. The meeting came amid a spike in cases in last two weeks. The meeting was attended by Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj, Revenue Minister Kailash Gahlot, the Chief Secretary and concerned officials of various departments, an official statement said. The CM asserted, “The residents need not worry as the government is ready to face any eventuality. For now there is no government mandate to wear masks in public places. However, patients with influenza and respiratory diseases have been advised to wear masks.”
CM claimed that most of the cases in Delhi are of the XBB 1.16 variant, which is not serious but can still spread even after getting vaccinated. Therefore, the government is conducting genome sequencing of all cases to detect any new variant of Corona. Random screening of 2 percent passengers is also being done at the airport. The government has the capacity to conduct more than one lakh RTPCR tests in government and private hospitals. Additionally, 7986 beds are ready for Corona patients in Delhi and only 66 beds are occupied as of date, it added. Addressing a press conference after the review meeting, Kejriwal emphasised that everything was under control and there was no need for the citizens to panic regarding the Covid-19 situation. He added that yesterday, Saurabh Bhardwaj had held a meeting with senior officials of the department and other health experts and today he also reviewed this issue. He said that on March 15 42 positive cases of Covid-19 were reported, but a fortnight later on March 30 this spiked to 295 new cases. The active case tally of Delhi is 932 at the moment. On Thursday a total of 2,363 tests were conducted in the State, it said.