Most COVID-19 cases are mild, do not need hospitalisation: Kejriwal

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said that though the number of daily COVID-19 cases and active cases are increasing in the city, there is no need to panic as those are very mild and do not need hospitalisation. He presented data to show that despite an increase in the number of cases, bed occupancy in hospitals is even lesser than one per cent and is very low as compared to last year's deadly second wave of coronavirus in April.

''Active COVID-19 cases rose from about 2,000 on December 29, 2021 to 6,000 on January 1, but the number of patients in hospitals dipped during this period. On December 29, 2021 as many as 262 beds were occupied while on January 1 it was 247 only,'' Kejriwal said in a virtual press conference.

He said that on March 27 last year, Delhi had 6,600 active cases and 1,150 oxygen beds were occupied. As many as 145 patients were on ventilator compared to five now, he said.

Kejriwal said that COVID-19 cases are increasing rapidly in Delhi, but there is no need to panic. ''Currently, the number of active cases in the city is 6,360 and today (Sunday) 3,100 new cases are expected to be reported. All cases are mild and in most of them patients don't need hospitalisation,'' the CM said.