COVID-19: Harsh Vardhan says Delhi needs more stringent action; puts onus on CM Kejriwal

Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Harsh Vardhan on Monday said that the national capital needs to take more stringent measures to contain coronavirus. This comes after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday made it clear that the time has come to re-open Delhi as people will have to be ready to live with the coronavirus, and said it is impossible that COVID-19 infection cases will be zero. So far, more than 4,500 coronavirus cases have been reported in Delhi. 

Speaking to the media, the Health Minister said that Delhi is one of those states in the country where more strict action is needed to be taken in order to control the coronavirus cases. He added that the fight against it needs to be taken more seriously.

Harsh Vardhan felt that minimum relaxation should be given during lockdown 3.0 but it is totally up to Delhi government. Furthermore, he said that the Health and Home Ministries have given guidelines but it is the state government, who needs to decide as to how much and in what way those guidelines should be implemented in their states according to the situation there.

READ: Coronavirus Live Updates: India case count breaches 40,000-mark ahead of Lockdown 3.0

READ: Lockdown 3.0 begins tomorrow with 'considerable relaxations'; people should be ready to live with COVID-19:Kejriwal

Seal containment zones, declare rest as Green Zone

Arvind Kejriwal confidently held that Delhi is ready to lift the lockdown and has necessary resources in place to combat the novel Coronavirus. The CM said he wishes to relax prohibitions on economic activities while preparing to deal with any surge of COVID-19 cases.

"We have asked the Centre to consider sealing the 97-odd containment zones in Delhi and declare the rest as Green Zone. Allow businesses to open or have an odd-even system for markets. Cases might rise, but we are ready to deal with it," Kejriwal said, adding that it is time Delhi "learns to live with Corona" as it won't go away.

READ: 'Seal containment areas, declare rest of Delhi as Green zone': Arvind Kejriwal to Centre

READ: Will implement the centre's latest guidelines on lockdown relaxation: Kejriwal

(With Inputs from Agency)