New Delhi, Dec 18(PTI) Delhi government is ready to tackle the Omicron variant of COVID, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Saturday.
He advised people not to panic saying even though the variant was said to spread faster than the previous ones, its symptoms were mild.
He said Delhi might not face another wave of infections, since according to the sero survey conducted by the Delhi government, 96 per cent of the state population was found to have antibodies and a majority of them were vaccinated.
"I have been holding meetings these last few days and I want to assure people that our government is ready to tackle Omicron," Kejriwal said at a Christmas and New Year event hosted by the Delhi Assembly Speaker here in the assembly premises.
The CM said the government learnt lessons during the April wave and has worked on its shortcomings.
"In April this year, the fourth wave of COVID in Delhi claimed many lives. We took help from everyone and together we brought it under control. We pray to god there is no next wave but if it comes we will bring it under control as we did during the last wave of infection in April," he said.
It has been almost two years since the whole of humanity is fighting on all fronts against COVID. The country saw two waves but we saw four fatal waves.
The fourth wave that we saw in April was very tragic, it took away so many lives," he said.
A large number of deaths occurred during what was called the second wave' in Delhi that witnessed a chaotic situation caused by shortages of medical oxygen, patient beds, and medicines.
"We did whatever we could but the good part about it was that the community came along to help. The pandemic was larger than the government machinery but the community did not falter in helping us. It wasn't just the people of Delhi who came forward but lots of people throughout the country and even from all over the world."
Speaking on spread of the Omicron variant the CM hoped it doesn't cause another wave even though it was a milder strain.
I hope that the wave doesn't strike Delhi In case of a spread, we are prepared with all the resources. We have upgraded our health facilities after learning our lesson from all that we had lacked during the second wave," Kejriwal said.
The CM greeted Delhiites and people of the country with a message of peace, brotherhood, and wellbeing of all.
Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel, Archbishop Anil Couto also greeted people for upcoming Christmas festival.
The Archbishop thanked the CM for respecting all religions and celebrating all festivals.
He also thanked the Delhi government for adding Velankanni (Tamil Nadu) in the list of free pilgrimage sites to elderly people in Delhi.
The Delhi Government will be sending senior citizens to Velankanni on free pilgrimage under Mukhyamantri Tirth Yatra Yojna on January 7, 2022, a government statement had earlier said.
