On Monday, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said that people in metros like Delhi and Mumbai did not follow lockdown norms and hence have more coronavirus cases.
Harsh Vardhan told News18, “I have a feeling that people in these cities have not followed lockdown principles quite adequately, which is one of the main reasons these cities are not performing well in controlling the spread of coronavirus as compared to other cities in the country."
But, the Union Health Minister admitted that some of these big cities had also borne the maximum brunt of international travellers and that could have contributed to more cases there.
Harsh Vardhan on Monday also said that Delhi is one of the places where considering the current situation more stringent action needs to be taken to combat COVID-19.
"I should not comment on what more needs to be done in Delhi, as it may be taken as a political statement. But considering the current status, I personally feel that more stringent action needs to be taken in the national capital to combat COVID-19. I think that minimum relaxation should be given by Delhi government during coronavirus-induced lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19," he said.
Commenting upon the current situation regarding the efforts taken by the government to combat COVID-19, the Minister said: "India's COVID-19 mortality rate of 3.2 per cent is the lowest in the world. We have taken a pro-active, pre-emptive, and graded approach. We are improving our testing capacity and deploying different strategies in different zones to curb the spread of COVID-19."
