Covid-19: HC asks Delhi govt for status report on Omicron infections

The Delhi high court on Thursday sought to know from the Delhi government the number of patients who are gravely ill in the national capital, after contracting the new Covid-19 variant Omicron, and how many of them were in need of ventilator support and oxygen beds.

The Delhi high court on Thursday sought to know from the Delhi government the number of patients who are gravely ill in the national capital, after contracting the new Covid-19 variant Omicron, and how many of them were in need of ventilator support and oxygen beds.

A health worker collects a swab sample to test for Covid-19 Infection, at Chandni Chowk, in New Delhi. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

“We would want to know the situation of omicron. The patients who are in ICU, who are on ventilators, oxygen support? How many of those are omicron cases? Because we would want to know the percentage of the severe cases,” a bench of justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh said.

Appearing for the Delhi government, senior advocate Rahul Mehra said he would take instructions and inform the court on the next date of hearing the status of these patients.

The court was hearing a bunch of pleas, including one by advocate Rakesh Malhotra, seeking better facilities for the Covid-19 patients in the city.

During the hearing, the court said, “So your chief minister is also down with Covid-19. What is the position otherwise? Hospitalization is not much.”

Apprising the court about the figures, Mehra said there were 10,986 active cases of Covid-19 in Delhi as on January 3. He submitted that the period of home isolation has been reduced to seven days from 10 and the governments, both central and state, are closely monitoring the situation.

During the hearing, central government standing counsel Anurag Ahluwalia informed the court that the Union government has already come out with a policy for a ”precautionary dose” of Covid-19 vaccine.

The Centre on Wednesday said the same vaccine will be administered as the third dose of booster or precaution dose of vaccine and no mix and match will be allowed as of now. This means those who have received Covishield as their first and second dose will receive Covishield as their third dose. Similarly, those who have received Covaxin in their first two doses will receive Covaxin in the third dose, Niti Aayog member (health) Dr VK Paul said during the press briefing of the health ministry.

The court said since the government has already declared the policy regarding the “precautionary dose”, no further consideration on this aspect is needed at this stage.

The matter will next be heard on February 1.