Health workers at one of the testing centre’s in Delhi.
Delhi Coronavirus (Covid-19) News Live Updates: With Delhi’s coronavirus cases reaching 85,161 and death toll soaring to 2,680, the recovery rate in the national capital reached 66.03 per cent on June 29 as against the national rate of 58.67 per cent, according the bulletin released by Delhi government. In June, the national capital added over 64,000 fresh cases to its tally, while over 47,357 patients recovered, were discharged or migrated. Delhi’s recovery rate breached the 50 per cent mark on June 20, after hovering below it for almost a month.
Also, as the number of daily coronavirus tests conducted in the capital increases — from 6,070 on June 1 to 16,157 on Monday, June 29 — the positivity rate has dipped. According to data shared by the Delhi government, the city’s average weekly positivity rate has gone from its highest point of 31% in the second week of June to 18% in the previous week, June 22 to 28. The city has managed to ramp up testing over the past two weeks, especially after antigen testing kits.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has said that his government will start a plasma bank within the next two days at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS). Describing the decision as “a first-of-its-kind initiative”, Kejriwal appealed to those who have recovered from Covid-19 to donate plasma at the Institute. So far, 56,235 patients have been listed in Delhi under the “recovered/discharged/migrated” category.
The current lockdown period in Delhi ends today. Earlier this month, Delhi had rejected the possibilities of another round of stringent lockdown.
Delhi Coronavirus Live Updates: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal during a press conference.
A team of experts from the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) on Tuesday carried out a fire safety audit of the newly created over 10,000-bed COVID-19 care facility in south Delhi, officials said. "The team checked all fire safety measures deployed at the Sardar Patel COVID care centre and hospital created at the sprawling Radha Soami Satsang Beas campus in Chhattarpur during the audit," a senior officer of the paramilitary force said.
The placement of fire extinguishers, water sources, open areas and rescue tracks were audited and some suggestions were made to ensure that the facility is prepared for fire emergencies, he said.
The CISF has a specialised fire service wing that provides expert solutions for fire safety and also has combat fire fighter teams. About 1.62 lakh personnel strong central force provides fire safety cover to many industrial establishments, government offices, nuclear power and power sector installations in the country.
Union home minister Amit Shah and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had last week reviewed the progress of works at the facility that will have two segments- a COVID care centre (CCC) where asymptomatic positive cases will be treated and a dedicated COVID health care centre (DCHC).
The Delhi government on Tuesday extended till September 30 its scheme offering a one-time waiver of water bill arrears and late payment surcharge in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
Under the scheme, launched in August last year, all categories of houses get an exemption from late fee payments, while their pending water bills are waived partly or fully depending on the housing category. "In wake of Covid-19 outbreak, the water bill waiver scheme of the Delhi Jal Board has been extended by three months and will now end on September 30," the water utility's vice-chairman, Raghav Chadha, tweeted. He said the move will benefit those who have not been able to avail the scheme due to the lockdown restrictions. Delhi's colonies are categorised from A-H.
Northern Railway GM Rajiv Choudhary on Tuesday inspecte the train coaches converted into isolation wards for COVID-19 patients, at Anand Vihar Railway Station in New Delhi, Monday, June 29, 2020. Express Photo By Amit Mehra
The Delhi High Court Tuesday allowed shifting of 65 foreign nationals connected to Tablighi Jamaat, who participated in the religious congregation at Nizamuddin Markaz event during the COVID-19 lockdown, to alternate accommodation. A bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rajnish Bhatnagar passed the order after the counsel for Centre, Delhi government and Delhi Police gave the statements that they do not have any objection to it. The high court allowed the plea to shift 65 foreigners from the existing accommodation to another as they were facing certain issues including unhygienic condition.
On May 28, the high court had directed that 955 foreign nationals, who had participated in the Markaz, be shifted from institutional quarantine centres, where they were kept since March 30 despite testing negative for COVID-19, to nine alternate accommodations.
The Delhi High Court Tuesday declined to entertain a plea seeking free of cost COVID-19 testing and treatment at all private labs and hospitals in the national capital for everyone, rich or poor, saying PILs should be filed with "some responsibility". A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan said it would dismiss the petition with costs after which the petitioner''s counsel sought to withdraw the plea. "The petition is disposed of as not pressed at this stage," the court said.
It further said the Delhi government was the only one to offer Rs 1 crore as ex-gratia to families of frontline healthworkers who have succumbed to the virus, so "let them work". "It is better that we do not interfere." the bench said.
The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) received 34,454 complaints during the coronavirus pandemic on its 181 helpline and "observed a decrease" in the number of calls related to crimes against women. The panel said a majority of the complaints were related to queries regarding the lockdown, which included enquiries regarding food and interstate movement.
The commission received more than 20,000 such calls and provided assistance to the complainants, it said. Panel chief Swati Maliwal said, "It was seen that the reporting of cases had decreased manifold in the initial days of the lockdown. The commission and the Delhi government have taken several steps to create awareness and has encouraged women and girls freely report their issues."
The historic Jama Masjid, which had closed earlier this month due to a surge in COVID-19 cases in the city, will reopen for congregational prayers (namaz) from July 4, Shahi Imam of the mosque Syed Ahmed Bukhari said on Tuesday. The mosque was closed on June 11 in view of the "critical" conditions in the city due to a surge in COVID-19 cases, till June 30.
Earlier, the mosque had reopened on June 8 after a gap of over two months with the government allowing further relaxations as part of unlock 1.0, the first phase of a calibrated exit from the coronavirus lockdown.
Bukhari said that the decision to reopen the mosque was taken after consulting people and experts. "Under unlock 1.0, almost everything has opened and normal activities have resumed. We took this decision to open the mosque for people to offer namaz as the scare of the virus has lessened and awareness about safeguards against it has increased," PTI quoted Bukhari as saying. (PTI)
The National Blood Transfusion Council revised its guidelines Monday and said blood can be collected from Covid patients only 28 days after they have been discharged from hospital or completed home isolation.
According to officials, any “active” corona patient undergoing treatment in private and government hospitals will be able to avail plasma from the bank. “(But) the doctor has to recommend plasma therapy and it cannot be randomly sought by any patient. After a recommendation, the hospital or doctor has to inform ILBS,” said Kejriwal.
The Chief Minister also pointed to “some misconceptions” among potential donors. “They feel that if they go to a Covid hospital to donate plasma, they might get infected again. This is not true… We have made arrangements in ILBS, which is not a corona hospital. The government will also pay for conveyance… the procedure takes around 30-45 minutes,” he said.
Although the therapy is still in trial phase, Delhi was among the first to consider this line of treatment after clearance from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
“The oxygen saturation level in a healthy individual should be 95 per cent, and anything below that is considered dangerous. Secondly, ideal respiration rate should be 15 (breaths per minute), but due to corona, it may go up to 20, 25, and in some cases, cross 30,” said Kejriwal.
With Delhi’s Covid count reaching 85,161, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said Monday that his government will start a plasma bank within the next two days at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS). Describing the decision as “a first-of-its-kind initiative”, Kejriwal appealed to those who have recovered from Covid-19 to donate plasma at the Institute. So far, 56,235 patients have been listed in Delhi under the “recovered/discharged/migrated” category.
According to senior officials, patients who have received convalescent plasma (CP), which is extracted from those who have recovered from Covid, showed improvement in respiratory rates and oxygen saturation levels.
North Delhi Mayor Jai Prakash on Monday visited the civic-run Hindu Rao Hospital and said the number of beds at the recently-converted dedicated COVID-19 facility will be increased to 200 in a phased manner. Initially, it is having 50 beds and gradually the facility will be expanded, he said.
A senior official of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) which runs the hospital, the largest civic body-run facility here, said Prakash inspected the hospital to check the facilities available for novel coronavirus patients. He also inspected the helpdesk facility, COVID-19 sampling centre and coronavirus wards at the hospital. The senior official said, the COVID-19 facility?has been started with 45 beds, and five ICU beds, besides 84 isolation beds. More are planned to be added as and when logistics and financial requirements are met, the official said.
With 18,522 people testing positive for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, India's cases reached 5,66,840 on Tuesday while the death toll rose to 16,893 with 418 new fatalities, according to the Union Health Ministry data. The number of active cases stands at 2,15,125, while 3,34,821 people have recovered, and one patient has migrated, according to the updated data at 8 am. Around 59.07 per cent of patients have recovered so far.
The Delhi High Court has asked the Delhi University why contempt proceedings be not initiated against it and its officers for trying to mislead the court by withholding information on deferment of the online open book exams. The exams, which were scheduled to start from July 1, have been deferred by another 10 days. A bench of justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad was furious with the varsity for not informing it on June 26, the last date of hearing of a plea challenging the conduct of online exams, about the decision to defer the examinations.
The bench said it came to know about the same on June 27 from news reports while it was in the middle of dictating an order to dispose of the petition on the basis of the DU's statement that it was geared up to commence exams from July 1. The court said that once DU had told it that it was fully geared up for holding the examinations from July 1, any change in schedule ought to have been communicated to the bench.
The Centre on Monday issued guidelines for Unlock Phase II, beginning from July 1, with relaxations in night curfew, provision for more domestic flights and trains, and clearance for more than five people in a shop. However, schools, colleges and other educational institutions will remain closed till July 31, and Metro rail, multiplexes, gyms, swimming pools, bars and auditoriums will stay shut until further orders.
An order issued by Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla said that as per the instructions of the National Disaster Management Authority, more activities were being allowed in a calibrated manner in areas outside containment zones. Inside containment zones, lockdown measures have been extended till July 31.
As the number of daily coronavirus tests conducted in the capital increases — from 6,070 on June 1 to 16,157 on Monday June 29 — the positivity rate has dipped. According to data shared by the Delhi government, the city’s average weekly positivity rate has gone from its highest point of 31% in the second week of June to 18% in the previous week, June 22 to 28.
The city has managed to ramp up testing over the past two weeks, especially after antigen testing kits, which give results within half an hour, were made available, particularly for containment zones.
Among those who hope to donate once the plasma bank opens at ILBS in two days are Delhi’s Health Minister and an MLA. Hours after the CM’s announcement, Health Minister Satyender Jain, who was in fact administered plasma therapy to help recover from Covid, tweeted, “Plasma therapy saved my life from Coronavirus and I pledge to donate my plasma as soon as medical protocols will allow.”
AAP MLA Atishi, who too has recovered from Covid, told The Indian Express, “It would not cost me anything; it is just like donating blood and we all have donated blood at some point in our lives. But arranging plasma has appeared to be a challenge… Which is why we are setting up the bank. This should make the process simpler. We are hoping that this will change people’s mindset.”
Welcome to our Delhi Coronavirus LIVE blog. The Covid-19 cases in the national Capital stand at 85,161 and the death toll has soared to 2,680. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Monday said that his government will start a plasma bank within the next two days at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS). Follow this space to track the latest developments.