Delhi is now engulfed by a third Covid-19 wave, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took to casually announcing on Wednesday, even as the spread of the disease-causing virus goes unabated in the national capital which was saved from doom only months ago due to the intervention of Home Minister Amit Shah. Once again, Delhi is reporting close to 7,000 daily new cases, and the situation is fast spiralling disastrously out of control for the Aam Aadmi Party government. With the failure of the Kejriwal-led government to check the pace of virus spread, its pompous lies on building world-class health infrastructure in Delhi too have been exposed. The tally of Covid-19 cases has surpassed the 400,000 mark in the national capital.
The Delhi High Court launched a scathing attack against the AAP-government, for proving to be an unmitigated failure when it came to controlling the spread of the virus. A bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad said the Delhi government has gone completely “haywire” on the pandemic.“The city could soon become Corona capital of the country. Thanks to the number of cases shooting up,” the bench said and added, “We are going to take it very seriously.” The High Court added that Kejriwal’s government had taken the health of Delhi’s citizens for a ride. The bench also ripped apart the Delhi government’s lies about the Union Territory topping the charts when it came to daily testing.
Delhi’s positivity rate on Tuesday stood at 11.29%. According to WHO guidelines, the positivity rate exceeding 8% meant that fewer tests than required were being conducted. Despite admitting that Delhi is now facing the wrath of a third Covid-wave, the AAP government is doing absolutely nothing to get rapidly ahead of the virus by increasing testing manifold. In fact, the Kejriwal government is insisting on the fact that people must learn to live with the virus, an assertion which effectively makes him evade all responsibility of the pandemic spiralling out of control in the national capital.
Arvind Kejriwal opened up Delhi completely, way too soon. As opposed to states like even Maharashtra, where the Covid situation was the worst, restrictions were and are being gradually lifted. However, Delhi virtually having no restrictions, and not enforcing basic Covid-protocols upon the people has led to it experiencing a third Covid wave, which is a phenomenon not seen in any other state across the country. Essentially, as long as Kejriwal is in-charge of Delhi, and a vaccine is not rolled out, the national capital will experience multiple more Covid-waves.
One would have thought that the Delhi government, particularly the Chief Minister would have learnt quite a bit from Amit Shah about tackling the pandemic, however, that is clearly not the case. Amit Shah had streamlined the entire process of Covid-management in Delhi. He had ramped up testing in the national capital magnificently. Contact tracing and isolation of suspected patients were meticulously carried out. The number of beds and ICUs across the capital were increased, even as the Home Minister single-handedly ensured that Delhi has all that it needs to fight the pandemic in abundance. The results were soon visible. From 6,000 daily cases, only about 700 began to be reported from the national capital while it was under the Home Minister’s watch. As soon as the situation reverted back to Kejriwal, it went out of control once again.
For as long as a Covid-vaccine is not available for the public, Home Minister Amit Shah must take control of Delhi upon himself. This will help save countless lives, and will also ensure that the virus is not allowed to have a free-run in India’s capital. As far as Arvind Kejriwal is concerned, tackling a pandemic is beyond his control. He must occupy himself in merely addressing the public virtually and taking credit for all that he has not done.