India / It appears that the 3rd wave of COVID-19 in Delhi has ended: CM

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said that the national capital has now overcome the third wave of Covid-19 infections and is doing the highest number of daily coronavirus tests in the country, which is even more than the US.

"It appears that the third wave of Covid-19 in Delhi is now ending. Around 90,000 daily tests are being conducted in Delhi today. This is the highest number of daily tests in the country," Kejriwal said.

Addressing a press conference on Saturday, the Delhi CM added: "With the efforts of the people of Delhi, we have effectively and successfully surpassed the third wave of Corona."

Delhi doing 4,500 tests per 10 lakh of the population

CM Kejriwal also said that now the city is doing 4,500 tests per 10 lakh of the population. "Delhi is doing the maximum number of daily coronavirus tests in the country and is one of the highest in the world. Even, the US is behind us with 4,300 tests per 10 lakh population," he added.

Speaking about the pollution factor, Kejriwal said that pollution induced by stubble burning led to the third wave of coronavirus in November. "This is when our healthcare workers upped the number of daily tests," he said.

"When Covid cases started increasing here, some told me that number of tests should be decreased or commit fraud in testing. Similar fraud was being committed at other places to show a lower number of cases. I instructed doctors/officers that the lives of people are most important," the Delhi CM said.

Kejriwal also said that the active cases of coronavirus in Delhi is down to about 12,000.

"Delhi recorded 1,133 fresh Covid-19 cases, positivity rate down to 1.3%," the Chief Minister said.

Kejriwal said that the national capital saw the first wave of Covid-19 in June, the second in August-September, and the third strong wave towards the end of October and November when 131 people had died in a single day.

The AAP chief went on to compare the Covid-19 numbers with those of Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat where he said the daily coronavirus test numbers are at 670 per 10 lakh and 800 per 10 lakh, respectively.

Meanwhile, Delhi on Friday recorded 1,418 new coronavirus cases with over 88,000 tests being conducted, while the positivity rate stood at 1.6%, as per authorities.

The national capital's death toll mounted to 10,219 with 37 new fatalities.