NEW DELHI: Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia’s statement that there would be 5.5 lakh Covid cases by July-end created fear among the people, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said, adding that there was no community transmission in the national capital.
After Sisodia’s comment, Shah said, he felt the Centre should step in. “The PM also told me that the Home Ministry should take initiative and help the Delhi government,” he told a news agency. All the necessary preventive steps were being taken and such a situation would not arise, Shah said. Testing, contact tracing and infrastructure in the capital was given a boost, he added.
“I can now say with confidence that situation of 5.5 lakh cases will not come on July 31.” Asked if there was community transmission in Delhi, Shah said ‘there is no need to fear’. “I have talked to Dr (V K) Paul (from Niti Aayog), Dr (Balram) Bhargava (director general, ICMR) and Dr (Randeep) Guleria (director, AIIMS). This situation has not come to Delhi.” “Around the second week of June, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that by July 31 there will be 5.50 lakh persons infected with the virus. He said that there will be no place left, no beds left and the situation will be difficult,” said Shah.
“This has created a lot of fear in the minds of the people in Delhi. His estimate was based on figures. I do not want to go in to whether it was right or wrong. But a situation of fear arose and some people started mulling an exodus (out of Delhi).” The Union Home Minister added that the Centre, the Delhi government and MCDs were working in coordination for tackling the Covid crisis. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal is kept in the loop, he said.
He would also speak to the chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, Shah added Later, Sisodia said that the Aam Aadmi Party-led government received support from the Centre, religious organisations, various hotels, private hospitals in fighting the Covid crisis in the city. “In the first week of June, there was a sudden spike in cases. There was a shortage of beds and testing. We are hopeful that situation will improve in the coming weeks and will certainly not be as bleak as it looked in first week of June when domain experts predicted 5.5 lakh cases in Delhi by July 31,” said Sisodia.