'Impose 15-day lockdown in Delhi': CAIT to CM Kejriwal, LG Anil Baijal

Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has asked Delhi LG Anil Baijal and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal to impose a 15-day lockdown in the state to arrest the rapid growth of COVID-19 infections. Stating that Delhi is sitting on a 'COVID bomb' with 25 per cent corona positivity rate, the traders' body wanted strict measures of checking to be deployed at airports, railway stations, bus stands and all borders of Delhi to ensure that no COVID-19 affected person enters the state. 

Praveen Khandelwal, Secretary General, CAIT said that Delhi's trade organisations are fully geared to supply essential commodities to people living in Delhi and are ready to assist the government in every possible way if a lockdown is announced. He has sought a meeting of prominent trade leaders of Delhi with both LG and CM .

CAIT acknowledged that a lockdown will definitely affect business and economic activities of Delhi but preferred the life of the people to be put on priority.

In a letter to LG and CM, the trade body said Kejriwal himself had on April 17 admitted that there is a shortage of beds, medicines, oxygen etc. in Delhi. "The statement of the CM itself shows that the situation is already worse and if effective steps are not taken immediately, the covid could prove to be much more fatal for the people of Delhi," they said. 

CAIT also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to make a concrete plan with districts as the basic fundamental focal point to prevent coronavirus at least in states where it is spreading faster. This step will be in conformity with the suggestion of PM Modi to deal with COVID-19 at the level of small containment zones, the organisation said.

In a statement, CAIT National President BC Bhartia and Secretary General Khandelwal said that the figures of the last one month are evidence that if no concrete and logical break is applied, COVID-19 is set to explode in Delhi. They further said that on March 18, there were 80,253 tests in Delhi in which 607 corona cases were discovered and coronavirus positive rate was 0.76 per cent while on April 1, 78,100 tests were conducted in Delhi and 2,790 coronavirus cases were found with a positivity rate of 3.57 per cent. On April 8, there were 91,800 tests and 7,437 coronavirus cases were reported with a positivity rate of 8.10 per cent, while on April 17, there were 99,200 tests in Delhi with 24,375 corona cases with a positivity rate of 24.57 per cent. "These figures are very frightening and clearly show that coronavirus in Delhi has taken its formidable form," they said.

CAIT Delhi Pradesh President Vipin Ahuja and State General Secretary Devraj Baweja said the medical system in Delhi has completely collapsed because medical facilities are not available in proportion to increasing cases. 

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