At Lok Nayak Hospital. Delhi’s Covid cases have touched 23,645. Praveen Khanna
Delhi reported 1,513 fresh cases of coronavirus Wednesday, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 23,645 in the city. A total of 50 deaths have been declared by the state health department, out of which nine have been reported in the last 24 hours. So far, 606 people have succumbed to the illness.
Cases in a single day reported in the national capital, having a population of 1.9 crore, on Wednesday, is higher than Mumbai which saw 1,276 cases. Maharashtra has a total of 72,300 cases and 2,465 deaths.
The fatality rate in Delhi is 2.5%. A total of 299 more people have recovered/been discharged/migrated from hospitals. The recovery rate in the city stands at almost 40%.
Meanwhile, fresh SOPs have been issued for identification and protection of senior citizens from Covid-19. As per the guidelines, the divisional commissioner will collect the available database of senior citizens from various departments and upload it on a portal.
A dashboard will be created, which can be accessed by district nodal officers. The IT cell team will carry out data analysis and provide a list of “high-risk contacts” to district nodal officers. “Booth-level officers who have also been appointed as ‘corona foot warriors’ shall be allocated mobile numbers of senior citizens. They will call and gather all the required information. A 24×7 control room will be set up in each district for coordination,” said a senior Delhi government official.
A state-level centralised control room with a toll-free number, to supervise as well as provide support and assistance to the district control rooms, has to be set up by the health department.
At present, there are 8,386 beds earmarked for Covid patients in city hospitals, out of which 3,446 are occupied. A total of 8,405 patients are under home isolation.
The government Wednesday declared three more private hospitals for treating Covid patients, adding 802 beds to the existing strength of 8,386.
The three hospitals — Sir Ganga Ram, Moolchand and Saroj Super Speciality — are functioning on concessional land and, as per the officials, are obliged to provide 10% IPD and 25% OPD services to EWS patients free of charge.
Each hospital will be reserving 25% of the total bed capacity for EWS Covid patients and treatment will be free of cost. The hospital can charge patients for the remaining 75% of beds. “The move will help several EWS patients who are unable to get beds at other hospitals,” said a senior health department official.