Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said that the coronavirus situation in the national Capital is a matter of concern, but not for panic. The city has recorded 73,780 cases, with more than 40,000 detected in the last two weeks alone.

The chief minister attributed the surge in cases to increased testing. However, earlier this week the World Health Organization had said that the record number of new coronavirus cases cannot be attributed to more testing.

“Nearly 74,000 coronavirus cases is a lot, but if we try and understand the situation, I will say the situation is under control,” Kejriwal claimed during an online media briefing. “It is a cause for concern but not for panic. We have increased our capacity of testing by three times and hence, cases are rising in the city. The good thing is that as many as 45,000 have recovered. People are recovering quickly too.”

The Aam Aadmi Party chief said of the total 26,000 active cases in Delhi presently, only 6,000 were admitted in hospitals and the rest were getting treated at home. He added that the government will set up intensive care unit beds on a large scale at three state-run hospitals for serious patients.

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Kejriwal said the total number of occupied beds at city hospitals had been around 6,000 despite a rise of 3,000 to 3,500 new patients everyday. This, he claimed, showed the less need for hospitalisation.

“A mild form the coronavirus seems to be in Delhi,” Kejriwal added. “That is why the number of people getting infected is around the same number of those recovering from the infection. In either case, we have 13,500 hospital beds ready in Delhi.”

The chief minister said the government has got permission to conduct plasma therapy on 200 patients in the city. “It may be difficult to save very serious patients using plasma therapy, but it can help moderate patients by not letting their condition worsen,” he added.

He said that those under home isolation have been given pulse oximeters to measure their oxygen levels every few hours. “If it drops below 94, call us and we will send the oxygen cylinder to your house,” the Delhi chief minister said. “If required, you will be sent to the hospital.”

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