Govt alert, no need to panic, says Kejriwal

“We are keeping a close eye on rising coronavirus cases. Hospital admissions are not increasing, so there is no need to panic. There is nothing to worry about as of now,” the chief minister said, according to a statement issued by the office of the state health minister.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said the Delhi government is fully prepared to deal with a surge in Covid-19 cases, but added that the minor uptick in the infections should not cause any alarm because hospitalisations continue to remain negligible, with 99.5% Covid-19 beds in city hospitals and all beds in Covid care centres vacant.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. (HT Photo)

“We are keeping a close eye on rising coronavirus cases. Hospital admissions are not increasing, so there is no need to panic. There is nothing to worry about as of now,” the chief minister said, according to a statement issued by the office of the state health minister.

Health minister Satyendar Jain appealed to Delhi residents to get vaccinated, if they hadn’t, and wear a mask. “Prevention is better than cure. All those who have not yet taken the vaccine or have taken only the first dose, should take it as soon as possible,” he said.

He added, “Wearing a mask while leaving the house can prevent most cases. Even though cases of the coronavirus have increased in Delhi, the number of patients admitted to hospitals is still normal.”

Allaying concerns over the XE sub-variant of the Sars Cov-2, which causes Covid-19, Jain said that it has not been included in the list of variants of concern by the World Health Organization (WHO).

“So there is no need to panic. The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) will meet on April 20 to discuss the rise in the cases, and measures to contain the spread of the disease,” he added.

The national capital recorded 366 cases on Friday, at a test positivity rate of 3.95%.

Govt preparing 65k beds

The state has directed officials of the health department to keep an eye on the developing situation, said people aware of the matter.

“Around 37,000 Covid beds and 10,594 Covid ICU beds have been prepared in the city. “If the infection spreads, the government has planned to increase 100 oxygen beds in every ward of Delhi within two weeks. In such a situation, the Delhi government plans to prepare 65,000 beds, so that no person has to face a shortage of beds in an emergency situation,” the government said in the statement.

The government also said if the Centre issues guidelines to provide free precautionary doses to every eligible person in government facilities, the Delhi government will implement it. Currently, the precaution dose is free in government facilities for those aged above 60, as well as health care and frontline workers. Those aged between 18 and 60 need to get the paid shot in private facilities.

However, the first and second doses are free for all eligible people in government facilities.

The government has also asked all hospitals to stay alert, and added that the number of RT-PCR tests will be increased if “the need arises” and stressed on the need to trace contacts of Covid-positive patients.

Delhi conducted an average of 10,432 tests in the past seven days, down from an average of 22,783 at the start of the month.

O2 capacity enhanced

According to the government statement, Delhi’s oxygen capacity has been increased to 1,363.73 MT, including Liquid Medical Oxygen Storage (LMO), Liquid Medical Oxygen Buffer, and PSA plant.

The health institutions have a combined capacity of oxygen cylinders of up to 217 metric tonnes and 6,000 D-type cylinders have been kept in reserve for use in an emergency, the government said.

Earlier, the oxygen refilling capacity in Delhi was 1,500 cylinders a day, but now the two cryogenic plants with a capacity of 12.5 MT will be able to fill an additional 1,400 jumbo cylinders every day, it added.