‘Home isolation, plasma therapy helped Delhi battle Covid-19’: Arvind Kejriwal at HTLS 2020

Particularly lauding the concept of home isolation, the Delhi chief minister said that a large number of people had effectively managed to recover from the viral disease since they had been put in isolation and treated within the safety net of their homes.

Outlining a slew of innovative measures that the Delhi government had adopted earlier this year in its battle against the novel Coronavirus, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said that the capital city’s health infrastructure had not collapsed under the immense strain it had seen largely due to steps taken by his government.

Kejriwal was participating in the 18th edition of the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit (HTLS) in conversation with HT’s Executive Editor Kunal Pradhan on Friday.(HT PHOTO.)

Particularly lauding the concept of home isolation, the Delhi chief minister said that a large number of people had effectively managed to recover from the viral disease since they had been put in isolation and treated within the safety net of their homes.

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“We initiated a home isolation concept very early this year. Currently, there are 43,000 active Covid-19 cases in Delhi but I do not have that many number of beds in hospitals dedicated for the treatment of Covid-19 patients. Nearly 25,000 patients of the viral disease are being treated at home under proper supervision of doctors appointed by the government,” he said.

Plasma therapy which has been one of the key treatment strategies of Delhi’s handling of the Covid-19 health crisis also came in for a fair share of praise. The Delhi chief minister said that plasma therapy was introduced in the national capital for the first time as early as the month of May. Later, he pointed out that the therapy was also adopted by the United States for treating critically ill Covid-19 patients.

The Delhi chief minister pointed out that tele-counselling was another innovation put in place by the Delhi government to provide infrastructural support to those infected with Covid-19 and placed under home isolation. Doctors have been calling such patients twice a day to monitor their health condition and offer appropriate advice. Oximeters were also provided by the Delhi government so that Covid-19 patients under home isolation could monitor their oxygen levels and alert their family members in the event of a dip in their oxygen levels.

Kejriwal was participating in the 18th edition of the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit (HTLS) in conversation with HT’s Executive Editor Kunal Pradhan. On Day 1, held a day earlier, the virtual session saw Dr Randeep Guleria, Director, AIIMS and Dr Ashish K Jha, Dean, Brown University School of Public Health discussing the Covid-19 health crisis.

The theme of this year’s HTLS edition, held virtually, is ‘Defining a New Era’ as the world learns to live and deal with the Coronavirus infection and takes baby steps in controlling the pandemic and embraces the new normal.