COVID positivity rate about 10 per cent in Delhi; curbs to be eased soon: Kejriwal
New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said that his government does not want livelihood of people to be affected and Covid restrictions will be eased as soon as possible.
Restrictions were put in place in view of people's health, Kejriwal said after hoisting the national flag at the Delhi government's Republic Day function.
"COVID positivity rate has reduced by 20 per cent in the span of last 10 days. Today it's about 10 per cent, opposed to 30 per cent positivity rate on January 15. All of this is because of the consistent pace of vaccination," Kejriwal said while addressing a program in Delhi.
Lauding the efforts of healthcare workers, Kejriwal said that 100 per cent population of Delhi has received first dose of COVID vaccine and 82 per cent have received the second dose of the vaccine.
"When COVID-19 increases, we have to impose some restrictions on economic activities. But we do not want to create a hurdle in your lives but protect you and your health. Soon we will try to do away with (COVID) restrictions and bring your life back to normal...will make all efforts in that direction," the Delhi CM said.
Kejriwal also said that presently, India is going through third wave of COVID-19 but Delhi is going through fifth wave of the pandemic.
Delhi on Monday continued to report a decline in daily COVID-19 infections with 5,760 new cases and a daily positivity rate of 11.79 per cent.
With this, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Delhi has mounted to 17,97,471, including 45,140 active cases. Of these active cases, 36,838 are currently in home isolation, as per yesterday's bulletin.
"Delhiites have suffered the most due to Covid. We don't want that your livelihood is affected but your health is important, so we had to put restrictions," he said.
Recently, the Delhi government's proposal to lift weekend curfew and odd-even scheme of opening shops in view of the improving Covid situation here was turned down by the Lieutenant Governor (L-G).
"Last week some traders had come and they said they are facing lots of problems due to the odd-even scheme and weekend curfew. The L-G agreed to some proposals and on some, he differed. We will remove these restrictions as soon as possible," Kejriwal said.
During his speech at the function, the chief minister said he is most inspired by Baba Saheb Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh who charted different courses for the same dreams and goals.
Kejriwal pledged to fulfil Ambedkar's dream of quality education for all children, rich or poor.
He also announced that in every office of the Delhi government pictures of Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh will be put up.
