Arvind Kejriwal minces no words, claims Delhi faced coronavirus brunt because of Markaz incident

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday stated that coronavirus was spreading rapidly in the national capital but the situation was "still under control".

"For the last few days, coronavirus cases in Delhi are on a rise. We have also conducted more testing in the past few days. Yesterday, we got the report of 736 cases. Out of 736, 186 were positive," the Chief Minister said.

Kejriwal mentioned that all those 186 were asymptomatic. "They did not know they were infected. This is even more worrying. At times people don't even know that they are infected," he said.

The Delhi Chief Minister informed that one of those 186, was working as a volunteer at the food distribution centre of Delhi government and added that he has ordered rapid testing at the centre.

"Coronavirus has been spreading rapidly in Delhi but the situation is still under control. The containment zones are increasing where Operation Shield is implemented. As of today, there are 77 containment zones in Delhi," he said.

The Chief Minister, while admitting that situation was "worrisome", said that there is no need to panic.

"There are 1893 cases in Delhi. 26 of them are in ICU and 6 of them are on ventilators," he informed.

The chief minister cited the Tablighi Jamaat markaz incident as the reason for the spread of the virus, pointing out that Delhi accounts for 12 per cent of the cases detected across country.

"Delhi is the capital of the country so it is fighting the most difficult fight against the virus. In the last two and a half months, those who came from foreign, they brought coronavirus. It was not there in our country. What happened in Markaz, Delhi faced the brunt of it," he said.

The Chief Minister said there will be no relaxation in lockdown in Delhi for now.

"Keeping in mind the safety of people, we have decided that for now, no relaxation can be given in lockdown. We will have an assessment after a week," he said.