Coronavirus: Delhi has recorded 4.95 lakh of COVID-19 cases, with more than 7,000 deaths. (Archive)
New Delhi:
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal called an all-party meeting on Thursday to discuss a strategy for managing and containing COVID-19 in Delhi, where cases have skyrocketed since late October.
The meeting is likely to be attended by lawmakers from the BJP, Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party, and it will take place at 11am in the Delhi Secretariat.
The Covid meeting of all parties was called amid a third wave of coronavirus, which saw a record increase of 8,000 cases last week. The surge in infections this month came with an increase in the number of patients exhibiting severe COVID-19 symptoms and hospitals were left without ICU beds.
Delhi has added a lakh of cases since Nov. 1 and the number is likely to rise further as the city’s positivity rate is 14 percent, more than three times the national average of 4 percent.
Mr. Kejriwal visited GTB Hospital today to assess the availability of the city’s healthcare facilities.
“Over the next few days, the Delhi government will increase 663 ICU beds in its state hospitals; as of Friday, 238 additional beds would be added at the GTB hospital. The central government has assured that it will prepare 750 ICU beds at the DRDO Hospital With this, Delhi would have 1,413 additional beds in intensive care units across the city, which would somewhat reduce the existing shortage, “said the Chief Minister of Delhi.
Our doctors have managed very well despite the huge increase, he tweeted.
On Monday, Interior Minister Amit Shah met with Kejriwal to discuss Delhi’s Covid strategy in the context of a central government report indicating that daily coronavirus infections could rise to 15,000.
In the days since, the central government has hired more doctors, paramedics, rushed to install ventilators, and started boosting the capital city’s health infrastructure, including Covid’s sample testing facilities.
The state government, for its part, has reduced the number of people authorized to attend weddings from the previous 200 to 50. It has also sent a proposal to the central government asking for permission to temporarily close some markets to prevent them from becoming hotspots.
“It is a balancing act. It is important for us to control the spread of the coronavirus without harming people’s livelihoods. We will remain vigilant for the next few days,” Kejriwal said.
The government led by Arvind Kejriwal has said that another blockade was out of the question for Delhi.
Earlier in the day, Delhi’s Health Minister Satyendar Jain had said that the city was conducting “maximum tests”, which will be increased further.
The city has been running an average of 60,000 tests per day since September, but now it will increase to 1.2 lakh with 60,000 RT-PCR tests and increased door-to-door Covid surveillance.
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