Community transmission of COVID-19 in Delhi, waiting for Centre to declare: Satyendar Jain

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain stated that AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria has said that there is a community transmission of COVID-19 in Delhi, but the Centre has not accepted it yet. The Health Minister also attacked Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and said he has overturned Delhi government's decision of reserving hospital beds for residents of the city under pressure from the BJP.

New Delhi:Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Tuesday said that AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria has accepted that there is community transmission in the national capital but it is up to the Centre to make a declaration about it.

"AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria has said that there is a community transmission in Delhi but the Centre has not accepted it yet. We cannot declare it and the declaration is up to the Centre. 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," Jain said when asked about whether community transmission has started in Delhi.

"We say community spread when people don't know how they get the infection. There are many cases. Around half of cases are coming in which people don't know how they get infected," he said. The Health Minister attacked Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and said he had overturned Delhi government's decision of reserving hospital beds for residents of the city under pressure from the BJP.

"The LG has scrapped the decision of Delhi government to reserve hospitals of Delhi for the people of the national capital. I have been getting calls asking me about where Delhiites will get treatment. Flights from around the world landed in Delhi and Mumbai. Coronavirus reached here from abroad," he said.

"There are around 50,000 cases in Mumbai and 30,000 in Delhi. We have around 9,000 beds in Delhi. Coronavirus cases in Delhi are increasing. It is expected that we will have a total of 50,000 cases in the next 10 days. People are worried where people of Delhi will get treatment," he said.

"Under BJP's pressure, LG overturned the decision. We will ask him if people in large numbers came from outside for treatment then where will people of Delhi go?" the Minister asked. He also attacked the Centre for the delay in stopping international flights.

"We requested the Centre to stop flights. But they were stopped after 15 days. People from outside were stopped in Delhi. They should be sent to their states. This is the reason behind the spread of COVID in Delhi. We are trying to increase the number of beds. But if people in large numbers come this is a reason to worry," he said.

"We were expecting that the beds in private hospitals would cater to patients up to 15 days. However, most of the beds reserved for COVID-19 patients have been taken up in last 3-5 days," he said.