'5.5 lakh coronavirus cases by July 31': Delhi Deputy CM fears worse case scenario

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that based on the current rate of doubling of infection, Delhi is likely to have 5.5 lakh coronavirus cases by July 31. His comments came after Tuesday's review meeting to discuss community transmission. Sisodia predicted that there would be a huge demand for hospital beds. His comment came after Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal reverted the order to reserve hospital beds for Delhi residents.

"COVID-19 cases are doubling every 12-13 days in Delhi. 5.5 lakh COVID-19 cases are expected in Delhi by July 31. We will need 80,000 beds by then," he told reporters after the meeting.

The Delhi government predicted that by June 15 there would be 44,000 cases that would increase to 1 lakh cases by June 30 and 2.25 lakh by July 15.

Sisodia further stated that community transmission has not happened in Delhi yet. "On community spread in Delhi, central government officials said it has not happened yet," he said.

Earlier, state Health Minister Satyendar Jain said that the state government can agree that there's community transmission in Delhi but only after the Centre declares it. "We can say that there is community spread only when the Centre admits it... Community spread is when there are cases in which source (of infection) cannot be ascertained... Almost half of our cases are like this," said the minister ahead of the meeting called to review community transmission.

Jain said that the Delhi government cannot declare it, only the Centre can. "Community spread is a technical term and it depends on the Centre whether they accept it or not. There are four stages in epidemiology in which the third stage is the community spread," he said.

The review meeting was held in the presence of Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA), and Deputy CM Manish Sisodia. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was not part of the meeting as he is under isolation after reporting fever and symptoms of the viral infection.

Delhi recorded 1,007 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total count to 29,943 cases, out of which 11,357 have recovered and 874 have died.

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