Kejriwal requests people to avoid panic buying

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday urged people to avoid panic buying while urging them to remain cautious.

Addressing the media, he also said that all the non-essential public services will be disallowed from Friday.

In a COVID-19 review meeting chaired by the Lt Governor, it was agreed that all activities of Delhi will be segregated into essential and non-essential.

"All non-essential activities shall remain suspended. However, all employees to be available for work from home telephonically and online if need be," the Raj Niwas said in a statement.

Urging the public to remain cautious, Kejriwal appealed to the people to not panic but to remain cautious.

"The unfortunate incident of a man suspected of having the virus committing suicide from the 7th floor of the Safdarjung Hospital on Wednesday, tells us that we do not have to be scared of it even if we test positive," he said.

He said a lot of people have recovered from it, and the maximum are still in the recovery mode.

"It proves to be fatal only for the vulnerable. We have to be cautious that if we are the carrier of the virus, it should in no way infect other people. I hope that everyone remains safe."

Kejriwal explained that there are only two ways through which coronavirus can be spread and escalate.

"First is if a person coughs or sneezes on another, the other person can get affected and to avoid that everyone should maintain a distance of at least one metre from one another. Also, if someone sneezes or coughs on a hard surface and someone else touches that surface, he/she can get infected too.

"Second, if someone sneezes or coughs, covers his/her face with their hands, and shakes hands with another person, it will spread via contact and touching. On a hard surface, the virus stays for about 48 hours, and on a soft tissue surface, it stays for about 7-8 days. If a person gets infected, he/she will not notice the symptoms for 14 days," he explained.

Kejriwal also appealed to the people to avoid hoarding.

"I want to request people to avoid panic buying. It will only worsen the situation. All the state governments and the Central government have worked in close coordination on the situation. There has been no community transmission until now, and if we continue to work like this, we will be able to control the situation very smoothly." IANS