In a briefing to SC, the Delhi government. rejects the Center’s claim of a “massive increase” in cases
The Delhi government told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that its “constant efforts” have seen a “downward trend” in the spread of COVID-19 infections since last week. He said the capital is facing its third increase in cases, which began in November.
The 170-page affidavit disproves an equally voluminous affidavit filed by the Union Ministry of the Interior (MHA) last week that directly blamed the Arvind Kejriwal government for the “massive increase” in infections and the resulting strain on the medical infrastructure. The Center had named Delhi as one of the 10 states that contribute almost 77% of the number of active cases. This had prompted the court’s observation that states should rise above politics during the pandemic.
In its affidavit, the Delhi government responded to the scathing accusations from the Home Office with a mild interpretation of the statistics to show that he did not sleep at work.
Unlike the MHA affidavit, the Delhi government praised the cooperation it received from the Union Ministries in these months. In fact, the affidavit is peppered with references to the “guidance” and “hand grasp” that the Delhi government had obtained from the Center.
Coronavirus Updates December 1, 2020
One of the references includes how the Delhi government, with the “support and guidance” of the MHA, the Ministry of Health, expert agencies such as NITI Aayog and the ICMR, has “responded successfully to the pandemic”. He said 13 meetings chaired by the lieutenant governor along with various experts, including NITI Aayog member VK Paul, were held to discuss the strategy. The preparation was done under his supervision.
The Kejriwal government stated that there is a decrease in number of positive cases / positivity rate, hospital admissions and discharges, bed occupancy and active cases in Delhi. Rejecting the Center’s claim that the Delhi government was ill-prepared for the surge in cases due to the festival season, the affidavit said the number of COVID ICU beds available in Delhi is 5,010, with an expected increase. of another 1,522 beds.
The affidavit said the number of ICU beds in government hospitals had increased from 109 on June 1 to 1,749 on November 29. Whereas, the number of beds in the central government hospitals in Delhi increased to only 850 on November 29, 89 onwards. June 1. Even ICU beds in private hospitals had increased from 111 on June 1 to 2,411 on November 29.
The Delhi government affidavit said that, at the height of the holiday season, it ordered the creation of 663 ICU beds. Another order was issued on November 19 to convert 80% of ICU beds to private hospitals for COVID-19 patients. This would have added 249 beds. Once again, a third order was approved to reserve 60% of beds in private hospitals for infected patients, increasing the number by 2,644.
The affidavit referred to how Mr. Kejriwal had written to the Union Minister of the Interior to increase the number of ICU beds by 1,214 in central government hospitals such as AIIMS, Safdarjung, LHMC, RML, etc. He said the Delhi government, despite this request, went ahead to approve the acquisition of 1200 bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPAP), a kind of ventilator, from CSIR. He said 300 machines would arrive next week, with an equal number each week.
He said that the RTPCR sample collection has increased substantially and in fact saturated ICMR’s declared capacity of 38,000 in Delhi. The affidavit said that 80,30,979 people had been surveyed as of November 29. The survey would continue for another month.
The statistics covered Delhi’s ability to incinerate its COVID-19 victims. “As today, Delhi is witnessing an average of 110 COVID-19 related deaths per day, while possessing the ability to incinerate 415 bodies per day, with the ability to further increase the same, should the need arise. “he reported. The Supreme Court.
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