The city saw 2,877 fresh cases Thursday, taking the total to 49,979. With 65 deaths being reported, the toll reached 1,969.

With the number of patients requiring hospitalisation for Covid-19 rising in the city, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the government will have to increase the number of ICUs and ventilators to cater to them.

Delhi government’s biggest Covid-only facility, Lok Nayak Hospital, is going to double the number of ICU beds in the next two days. The 2,000-bed hospital has 67 ICU beds, out of which 55 have ventilators. “We already have 75 new ventilators and the number of ICU beds will be doubled in the next two days. We are also hiring 25% additional manpower ranging from nurses, doctors to technicians,” said a senior doctor from the hospital.

The city saw 2,877 fresh cases Thursday, taking the total to 49,979. With 65 deaths being reported, the toll reached 1,969. As many as 3,884 people recovered, taking the number of recoveries to 21,341. At present, there are 26,669 active cases, of which 5,448 are in hospital. The city has 696 ICU beds for Covid patients, of which 487 are occupied.

A five-member committee formed by the CM to assess the city’s infrastructure suggested that demand for the beds will go upto 15,000 by the end of this month. Of these 15,000 beds, almost 5% would be required in the ICU.

Hospitals have started adding more beds, increasing ventilators, oxygen concentrators and hiring healthcare workers. “We may need more ICUs in the coming days. Discussed with doctors of our Delhi government hospitals how to increase no of ICUs,” the CM tweeted.

A patient in an ICU requires close supervision. Many require life support equipment and medication in order to ensure normal bodily functions. They are staffed by highly trained physicians, nurses and respiratory therapists who specialise in caring for critically ill patients.

Adding a critical care unit to set-up is an amalgamation of several factors — from creating space to adding manpower, readying an ICU is an uphill task in a short time. “The most important thing is to carve out space for adding beds and machinery. The requirement of space for a general ward would be 90-100 square foot per bed while for an ICU it would be 125-150 square foot per bed,” said Dr DK Sharma, medical superintendent of AIIMS.

To attend to a critically ill patient, the hospital must have one nurse per ICU bed, a trained healthcare worker, round-the-clock monitoring system, a nursing orderly, uninterrupted oxygen supply, a suction machine etc. Hospitals are working to set up huge ICU facilities which will be able to house at least 16 beds.

“Adding just a ventilator or a bed will not serve any purpose. An ICU is much more than just adding equipment. We should have trained healthcare workers. It is a complete critical care provided to the patient,” said Dr BL Sherwal, director of Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality hospital. The hospital has 45 beds at present and is working to increase the number.